Digimon Data Squad: 5 Years Later
by Deltoran Merchant
Summary: Working title. Five years after Yggdrasil's withdrawal and the closing of the Digital World, three young kids are granted new, highly advanced digivices and meet new partners of their own. Together this new group, the Digi-Destined, must find the source of the Black Shard Plague and put a stop to it. Digimon is not mine.
1. Episode 1

**Digimon Data Squad:**

"**5 Years Later"**

"**Episode" 1**

"What are you doing!?" cried Gallantmon, a large, white armoured humanoid figure in the form of a knight.

This armour was currently burnt and battered from battle and the red cape and pauldrons he wore showed a similar state of damage. He was down to one knee in the midst of a rocky wasteland while his opponent stood before him, tiny in comparison, but with an aura of menace around him.

This opponent was a boy, a human boy, with messy brown hair and blue eyes and dressed in tattered jeans and a t-shirt, with a black cloak around his shoulders and a bandolier and belt with a number of gadgets strapped to it, and around each wrist a blade of pure energy issued forth from a rectangular emitter. It seemed preposterous to think this boy, who was only eleven, managed to best the tall knight in front of him. But best him he had, and he now held a sleek, futuristic looking gun in his hands that he had aimed at the knight, and around his head floated a strange gray blob with a single orange eye. "Beginning phase one of my plan," the boy answered, his voice utterly emotionless.

"Do not think the Damon boy won't hear of this. You would take the life of a Digimon who sought to save your human world from destruction? You would assault me with those evil weapons?"

"I will not be taking your life Gallantmon," the boy answered, "Merely ending this one. When you hatch again you will be blank once again, and from there you will follow my orders."

The boy fired his gun, shooting a stream of blue and purple light that connected with the knight, and within minutes Gallantmon had vanished and been replaced with a large red egg about the size of a basketball. "And that is that," the boy said, strolling forwards to pick the egg up. "Come Kuramon," he added, looking to the cycloptic blob floating around his head, "We have much more work to do."

((()))

"Lucas! You're going to be late!" Lucas' mom called up the stairs.

"I know! I'm just getting something!" Lucas called back down, rushing around his room to gather together a strange myriad of items.

At ten years old Lucas was mostly average, though he was particularly athletic looking, with upper-neck length blond hair in a short of skater style, and bright blue eyes that seemed to glimmer with mischief. He was dressed in his school uniform, and had his bag in his hands, but he seemed to be busy still filling it. All his books were in it though, and he had his cellphone in his pocket, so what he was doing would mystify anyone viewing him.

"Lucas!" his mom cried again, opening the door, "Oh no, what are you up to?"

"What do you mean what am I up to?" Lucas asked.

"You're always up to something."

"Aww mom, you're being too suspicious."

"Then why is there… a whoopie cushion, some stinkbombs, itching powder and a bottle of glue in your bag?" his mom asked, taking the bag in question from him and looking through it.

"Um… project?" Lucas said guiltily. He sighed and took the prank items out of his bag and tossed them back around his room. "Fine, make things boring why don't ya?"

"Lucas, you know it's not the pranks I have the problem with, they're fun, I know, but sometimes you have to take life a bit more seriously. You need your education, and you need to be paying attention in class, not getting sent to the principal's office for spraying the teacher with fake ink."

"Fine, whatever," Lucas said, taking his bag back and heading downstairs, "Serious is so boring though."

"I know it is Lucas, but you only have to be serious during school. Now hurry up or you're going to be really late."

Lucas slung his bag over his shoulders, tied his shoes, and dashed out the door with a quick 'bye' uttered. From there he ran as fast as he could towards school, which was quite a speed actually. He was one of his school's best athletes after all. But there were road crossings and turns he had to deal with, and they would slow him down, but he was hoping he could still break his record. He was also hoping he could still meet up with two friends of his. They went to middle school very near his elementary one, so he'd ended up seeing them on his morning and evening routes and things had picked up from there.

To Lucas' delight he saw them just as he reached about a block from school, a boy about fifteen years old with slightly spikey blue-black hair and a girl of the same age with brown hair tied in two pigtails that hung down her back, and both wearing the customary red uniforms of their school. "Keenan!" Lucas cried, jumping and landing on the older boy's back, causing to cry out in surprise and almost fall over.

"Jeeze Lucas," Keenan said as Lucas let go of him and fell into stride between him and the girl. "I'm happy to see you too, but you don't have to kill me."

"I just wanted to see how you'd react. It was fun for me."

"It was definitely a surprise," Keenan admitted.

"Definitely, you're like a jungle cat Lucas," the girl said kindly.

"Thanks Christie, but I like to think of myself as more of a velociraptor; a velociraptor who likes to have fun."

"Have you ever considered a more relaxed form of fun? One that won't lead to Keenan having back problems at twenty?"

"You guys know I make sure never to hurt someone, so don't start talking like my mom."

"Okay, okay. So Lucas, why're you so late today?"

"I wanted to do a big prank day at school, but mom busted me."

"Maybe a day off will do you some good."

"Bore me to death more like. I have soccer practice today though, so I guess it's not a total loss."

"That's the spirit," Keenan said, "Look on the bright side."

"So Keenan, you ask Christie out yet?" Lucas asked abruptly, causing both teens to turn bright red.

"No I- see I don't want- I mean I do but it's just that," Keenan stuttered.

"We're friends," Christie said, "Just friends."

"Yeah, just friends."

"Sorry, didn't mean to hit a nerve."

"It's okay," replied Keenan. "Hey my dad's been working on this video game and he asked me to ask you if you wanted to be one of the first testers."

"Another game? Will he actually get to selling this one?" Christie asked.

"I hope so, but he loves tinkering with electronics, so it could take a while. He says maybe if he gets some help from a potential player it'll help the process along. So what do you say Lucas?"

"Sure! If I have the time."

"Cool, and there's something I want to give you after school, don't let me forget."

"Alright."

They were right outside Lucas' school now and he quickly broke off from them to head in. He made it to class just as the bell rang, grinning at having broken his record, and settling into social studies.

Two periods later the bell rang for recess and snapped Lucas out of his usual daze. He wasn't quite asleep; though falling asleep in class wasn't unheard of for him, but he hadn't really been fully awake either. Standing beside him, with her arms folded and a frustrated look on her face, was his friend Ayaka. She had straight, light brown hair that reached to the very top of her shoulders and had her bangs held back under a lavender hairband and sparkling green eyes. Lucas was sure he couldn't have gotten the grades he did without her, since she helped him with his homework very often, and he also thought… well at the moment he thought she was a bit scary. "Were you even paying attention all morning?" she asked angrily.

"How do you define 'paying attention'?" Lucas asked sheepishly, joining her as they headed outside.

"Not being half-asleep through _two_ classes," Ayaka said.

"Oh, then no, I wasn't."

Ayaka sighed with exasperation, but her expression softened pretty quickly, "Lucas, I love helping you, but could you at least _try_ to pay attention?"

"I am trying! It's just so boring. Besides, I like having your help."

"Thank you… I think."

"Hey Kenji!" Lucas called, spotting his other friend on the schoolyard.

Kenji was a boy with messy brown hair and brown eyes and athletically built. Like Ayaka he'd known Kenji for years, and it was usually him who led to Lucas having to dumb down a prank or call off something daring and fun. Lucas didn't like it, but Kenji's worrying, or sensibility as Ayaka called it, usually ended up with Lucas having one less scraped knee or broken arm to deal with, so he was willing to listen despite it being more boring; most of the time anyways.

"Hey Lucas! Hey Ayaka! What's up?"

"Lucas almost fell asleep in class again. Guess who's helping him with his homework again tonight?" Ayaka said.

"Aww, can't you let it go Ayaka?" Lucas asked.

"Now Kenji's up to date I can."

"You don't really have to help him, he fails it's his fault," Kenji said.

"I'm right here you know," Lucas quipped.

"I can't let that happen," Ayaka explained, "It's frustrating sometimes, but someone needs to help him through."

"Thanks Ayak- ow!" Lucas cried, snatching his phone out of his pocket.

"What happened?" Ayaka asked with concern.

"My phone felt really hot all of a sudden," Lucas explained.

As he looked over his phone, a pretty basic smartphone, he saw it flicker with light and electricity, causing him to almost toss it on the ground, except he realized that it didn't hurt this time. Also, as he looked it over, he noticed that there was something different about it now. It was the same black rectangle with the large touch screen covering most of its front, but the button on the bottom that had initially been for turning it on and off was replaced with a light blue ring shaped button with darker blue rectangular buttons on the left and right side of the ring.

Lucas turned it over and saw that the logo on the back was different too, a pair of wings coming from a blue circle. When he turned it on, using a button set in the middle of the ring, it started up with stylized 'D' instead of the company logo. Afterwards it brought him to the menu screen, which was no different from before and even had all his apps. A press of one of the darker buttons brought up a different menu though, with three apps; map, portal, and evolution. "This is weird," he said, at a general loss for words, "Any ideas what it is guys?"

"No," his friends said in unison.

Within seconds they both jumped too, and pulled their phones from their pockets, to see that they were exactly the same now, though Ayaka's had a pink circle on the back and Kenji's had a purple one. "Maybe I should ask Keenan's dad," Lucas suggested, "He's good with electronics and stuff, maybe he'll know what it is."

"It's so weird that you're friends with middle school kids," Kenji replied.

"You mean cool."

"And they babysit you sometimes too right?"

"It's not 'babysitting', but yeah. It's loads of fun when they're over, like having an older brother and sister," explained Lucas, "You should see Keenan climb trees, it's like he grew up in the jungle or something."

"We should really get to class," Ayaka chimed in as the bell rang.

All discussion ceased there as they made their way back to class, and the rest of the day went as normal. Lucas was still restless, staring out the window more than listening to the teacher. He got sick of sitting still quickly, at least when it came to things like this where he _had_ to. The only subject he liked was physical education, which he excelled at. His position as one of the top players on their soccer team was testament to that.

Finally, as Lucas saw it, the final bell went and the kids were dismissed. He still had soccer practice, but there was about a thirty minute gap in which he could meet Keenan. "Finally!" he cried when he got outside with Kenji and Ayaka, "Another day over with!"

"You could at least _try_ to enjoy school at least a tiny bit," Ayaka said.

"I could also try to find a pig that can fly," replied Lucas sarcastically.

"You're hopeless."

"There's my mom," Kenji said, pointing to a car that had just pulled into the school's parking lot, "See you two!"

"And there's my dad," Ayaka added, gesturing to a man in a convertible, "See ya tomorrow Lucas."

With that his two friends were gone and he quickly made his way towards the middle school, texting Keenan on his new phone. It performed the same as the usual one, and Lucas was still confused about it. "Lucas!" called Keenan's voice, and he looked up to see the older boy running towards him.

"Hey Keenan!" replied Lucas, "So what's up?"

"As I said, I just wanted to give you something," Keenan replied, reaching into his bag and pulling out a light tan coloured boomerang with red tips. "I wanted to give you this," he added, handing it to Lucas.

"A boomerang?" Lucas asked with confusion as he took the wooden toy, "Um… thanks? I could've gotten one of these at the toy store though."

"No you couldn't," Keenan replied, sounding almost offended, "Because I made that one, I think seven or ten years ago or so."

"You made this when you were five!?" Lucas replied incredulously. "You must've had a lot of time on your hands."

"I sort of grew up in the country. Anyways it means a lot to me, but I'm not sure I'll ever use it again. So Christy suggested I give it to someone I trust, so I'm giving it to you. I'm sure it'll help you out of just as many tight situations as it did for me, and I know you get into a lot of them."

Lucas was speechless. There were so many things going through his mind; first of all that Keenan trusted him so much that he'd pass on a personal treasure to him. Second of all that Keenan was able to make a fine wooden boomerang when he was around five, though even if it was eight it would still be amazing. Third, that Keenan got into tight situations that required a boomerang. "I… I can't-" he began.

"Yes you can take it," Keenan replied strongly, "I won't let you refuse."

"But what about your sister, wouldn't she be a better person?"

"She's only five Lucas. I know it's weird, but please just take it."

Lucas sighed, but shrugged in resignation, "Alright, thanks Keenan."

"You're welcome, now get to soccer practice."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Lucas was about ready to dash back to school when he remembered the weird phone. "Oh yeah I almost forgot," he said, taking the weird phone from his pocket, "Do you know what this is?"

"Looks like an ordinary phone to me," Keenan replied, looking at it, "Where'd you get it?"

"Well that's the thing, I was at recess with Kenji and Ayaka and there was this sort of static shock in my phone pocket, and this was there instead of my usual phone. They both got them too."

"Really? That's weird," Keenan said, "I'll ask my dad about it if you want."

"That'd be great! Thanks Keenan."

"Alright then, see ya later."

With that Lucas ran back to school, putting the boomerang in his backpack. Then it was into the change rooms where he quickly put on his uniform and went out to meet the rest of the school's soccer team.

For some reason as they warmed up and practiced, Lucas felt like he was performing better. He was moving faster and kicking harder than usual, he was sure of it. Nobody really seemed to notice, or maybe they weren't paying attention. Or they weren't paying attention until he kicked the ball so hard it tore through the net. There was a collective 'Woah' from the team.

"Jeeze Lucas, how'd you do that?" one of his teammates asked.

"I dunno," replied Lucas honestly, "Guess I don't know my own strength."

"Try not to kick so hard then, okay?" the supervising teacher said. "It was a clear accident, so you're not in trouble."

As it turned out that net-breaking kick was decided a good spot to end practice. Another trip through the change room later Lucas was walking home while looking at his new phone. Primarily he was curious about the three new apps on what he decided he'd call the 'hidden screen', as it was only accessible by the buttons. He'd looked all through his apps, tapped everything, and found the hidden screen was completely inaccessible from the main one. It was like they were two completely different phones. But now he'd figured that out, he was ready to explore further.

When he tapped the Evolution App a message came up that said 'No subject'. Feeling disappointed he tapped the Map one and got another error message, this one saying 'Location Unknown'. Finally he tapped Portal and got _another_ message, this one saying 'Please locate a terminal'. This sounded considerably less 'error-esque' than the previous messages, so he figured he'd follow the lead.

Lucas wasn't quite sure what it meant by 'terminal', though he knew computers were sometimes called that, so he hurried home to see if that was indeed what it meant. "Hey mom I'm home!" he called as he walked in the door and kicked off his shoes and hurried up the stairs.

"Soccer practice go well?" his mom called.

"Yes!" Lucas called, hurrying to his room where his computer was.

Once there he made sure his computer was on and tapped the Portal app on his phone again. This time the message said 'Terminal found. Please face towards the monitor.'

Lucas shrugged and aimed the phone at the monitor. What he saw next was astounding; a red square appeared in the center of the monitor, the shifted to white and glowed, and the next thing he knew he was being pulled into the monitor! For a moment he felt like he was on the downwards slope of a roller coaster, rushing downwards through a glowing tunnel. Then it was over and he felt ground under his feet again.

There were two things that happened at once; first was that he noticed he was now standing in a deciduous forest, but not like the ones he was used to. It looked a little more like the ones in Europe or North America. The second thing he noticed was that his clothes were different; he had been wearing his school uniform when he'd used the Portal, now he was wearing a sporty-looking dark blue leather racing jacket, zipped up, with a high collar, a hard leather triangle on either side of the zipper on the chest area, and hard leather on the shoulders, almost like spaulders. On his forearms were forearm pads of similar hardened leather, held on with dark blue straps that blended into his jacket almost perfectly. All the hardened parts were a firey orange-red though, and with a slight gold trim around them.

He was wearing athletic shorts now, a bit of a lighter blue to his jacket, and with a firey red stripe down the side, and finally a pair of orange-red and blue high-top sneakers. "Cool clothes," Lucas said, looking over his outfit, and seeing he was wearing a red shirt underneath his jacket.

His jacket had two pockets at stomach level, and two internal ones on the chest. And his shorts had pockets too, and it was there he found his phone. Quickly looking at his phone, Lucas saw a new app had appeared on the hidden screen; Defense Tool. He tapped this app and a bolt of blue light shot out of the phone and into his other hand, materializing as "Keenan's boomerang!?" Lucas cried with surprise. "Someone seriously needs to tell me what's going on," he added with confusion.

At this point he became aware of something strapped around his head, which he found to be a pair of ski goggles. Putting them on didn't seem to really have much point, but he thought they looked cool. Since the phone was his only real guide, he lifted the goggles up again and looked at it. "Of course! The map," he cried, tapping that app.

This time a map of his surrounding area appeared which showed it as a place called the Woods of Arrival. A place labeled 'portal' was very obvious, and when he turned in the direction it showed he saw a computer monitor sitting in a large tree that showed his room. So now at least Lucas knew he could get home. Looking at the map again he saw an arrow point towards the edge of it saying 'Companion detected'. "What companion?" he muttered, walking through the forest in the direction the arrow pointed.

"Um, excuse me," said a voice after a few minutes of walking.

Lucas looked around to see a humanoid bird addressing him. The bird-person had black feathers, a purple ninja-like vest and wings that seemed to double as arms. "What are you?" Lucas blurted out.

"I'm a Digimon," the bird-person replied.

"A what?"

"A Digimon, an inhabitant of the Digital World."

"What's the 'Digital world'?" Lucas pressed, sounding just as lost. "Oh! Is that that thing that happened when I was five where the sky went crazy?"

"I suppose you could put it that way, yes."

"I didn't know that was real, people told us it was just hallucinations caused by water."

"What!? Your species tried to cover all that up?"

"I guess so. I was five, I only vaguely remember it," he explained quickly.

Most people would find this situation much more difficult to take in, but Lucas was always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. Besides, how could he deny what was right in front of him? He wanted to explore this place, and he was glad that decision hadn't just been a waste of time. "I'm Lucas by the way," he added, holding out his hand, "Nice to meet you, um, bird ninja."

"Falcomon, a pleasure to meet you Lucas," the Digimon replied, shaking his hand. "Before we continue this conversation any further, I must ask you something."

"Shoot," Lucas said, beginning to walk again.

"Do you happen to know a human named Keenan? I could never forget that boomerang in your hand, it's his."

"You know Keenan?"

"Of course! We grew up together."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know him?"

"Yes, of course I know him. He's walked to school with me every day since I was six. He's one of my best friends. He never mentioned a Falcomon."

"Never? You can't be serious," Falcomon replied, sounding slightly hurt and confused, "I was with him since he was a baby. He couldn't have forgotten me."

"It'll suck to be him either way at the moment," Lucas said.

He was feeling just as hurt, confronted with the possibility that the guy he considered his big brother had kept something as important as this from him. Lucas just used his usual method of dealing with being hurt though; humour. It helped him through two dislocated shoulders, many sprained and twisted joints, and a fractured arm. It helped when he and Kenji had had a brief falling out for two months, and it'd help here. "He's managed to hurt two people at once, now he'll have to answer for it twice. You can come with me when I go back and we'll see him tomorrow."

"Yes I suppose… which raises a better question; how did you get here? I thought the portal between the human and Digital Worlds was closed."

"I used this thing," Lucas said, showing the Digimon his phone. "It had this app on it that turned my computer into a portal, I guess, and brought me here. Now I'm following this 'companion' arrow."

"I see," Falcomon said, though his tone suggested he understood only about the same amount as Lucas, which wasn't much.

They walked along in silence for a little while, Falcomon occasionally flying to keep up with Lucas' brisk pace. Lucas saw a few other Digimon, but he was focused on the map on his phone. "So how did you get Keenan's boomerang?" Falcomon asked as Lucas saw the destination come on screen; a dot that said 'Shrine of Courage'.

"He gave it to me. Just this afternoon; he said he wanted me to have it because he felt it would get more use in my hands than his, but also that it was very special to him and he made it when he was really young."

"He did, although perhaps with less noble intentions than it's since been used for," Falcomon said, "Believe me, it's a long story."

"Whatever. The way he used to be isn't the way he is now, so what does it matter?"

"You're quite insightful for someone your age. How old are you anyways?"

"Ten."

"What's Keenan like? How many human years has it been since I left?"

"When did you leave?"

"Shortly after when the 'sky went crazy' as you put it."

"Then five years."

"Fifteen now," Falcomon mused, "Time surely does fly."

"Keenan's the best. Sometimes he's boring and annoying, telling me not to do anything stupid, and he's yelled at me a couple times when I've pranked him. But he's cool, his dad has all these cool computer games and gadgets, and he showed me some cool face painting stuff. He's really strong too. He doesn't show it, said he can't stand fighting, but I saw him punch out this guy who was picking on a kid in just one blow. It was the only time I've seen him get really mad, but he was so cool protecting someone like that. And he's great at sports; he's like a really awesome big brother. His sister agrees with me, that he's the best. Why are you crying?" Lucas added, looking to Falcomon.

"I'm sorry," the Digimon replied, "I'm just… so proud that he's grown up so well."

"Well then you can tell him that personally," replied Lucas, "Old friends should never stay separated. When I go home, you're coming with me."

"Okay," Falcomon affirmed.

"So what's the Shrine of Courage?" Lucas asked as they approached the dot.

"Just an old building, there it is right there."

Lucas looked where Falcomon was pointing and saw a crumbling old stone building, sort of shaped like a basic stone cabin. The two of them dashed over to it, unaware that they were being watched.

The stone cabin was surrounded by a law circular stone wall, but it was hardly difficult to get into it. It also seemed like the forest was quieter here, which was disconcerting. "Are you sure this is where your map was leading you?" Falcomon asked nervously.

"Absolutely, it's right in the building," responded Lucas, zooming in the map, "Come on; let's see what's inside the building."

Lucas quickly crossed from the wall to the short flight of steps that led into the shrine, and ended up being rather disappointed when all he saw was a dark, empty room. The only thing interesting was a small pedestal with a red and orange egg-like object on it. The egg in question had a sort of spike on it and, when he brought his phone near it, the device made a sound and flashed a message saying 'new app available'. "Another one?" he muttered, returning to the menu screen.

"What's happening?" Falcomon asked as he entered the.

"I found a red rock with a spike in it, and the phone says 'new app'," Lucas said, "Armour Egg Download," he read aloud, tapping the app.

A message read briefly saying 'searching for compatible subject', then changed to 'compatible subject found'. The screen glowed red, and at the same time so did the 'red stone' on the pedestal. "Guess that's an Armour Egg," Lucas muttered.

"This sounds familiar," Falcomon mused, "What does it say now?"

"Please remove the Armour Egg from its holding spot," Lucas read aloud.

He slipped his phone into his pocket briefly and knelt down to the pedestal. The armour egg had a symbol on it that he only now saw with it lit up; a symbol that looked like a blazing sun. The egg seemed pretty fastened to the pedestal, but he grasped it with two hands anyways and pulled. To his surprise it slipped right off fairly easily, causing him to stumble backwards into Falcomon. "Sorry about that," he said, getting to his feet, just as a stream of orange-red energy shot out of the pedestal from where the egg had been, while the egg in question turned into a similar coloured beam of energy that shot into his phone.

From the energy pouring out of the pedestal appeared a small, blue humanoid about the same height as Falcomon, with large hands and feet with claws, and a pair of zig-zagging blue horns, a white muzzle and belly and small horn on its nose. There was a slight draconic look to it, but it was overshadowed by its childish human aspect. "Hi there!" it said, "I'm Veemon."

"Veemon huh? And you're a Digimon too I guess?" Lucas replied, getting to his feet.

"Of course. I'm glad to finally meet'cha Lucas," he said, holding out his hand.

"How do you know my name?" Lucas asked.

"I've been waiting for ya. I was told to sleep until a human kid with a D-Phone came and woke me up, and his name would be Lucas, and now here you are."

"You've been waiting for me?"

"Sleeping mostly, but yup! We're meant to be partners, what'd ya say?"

"Sure, I gu- yowch!" Lucas said, shaking Veemon's hand and feeling a sharp jolt that he, as a prankster, knew very well.

He saw Lucas burst out laugh and showed him a hand buzzer the he had on him, and Lucas grinned. "I can't believe I fell for that," he said, "You wanna be partners Veemon? Then you got it!"

This time they shook hands for real and were about to continue their discussion about what was going on, when the entire shrine shook. "Right with the action, could it get more awesome?" Veemon asked.

"Dude, it's like you're reading my mind," Lucas replied, dashing out of the shrine.

Assaulting the shrine from just beyond the stone wall was a large, red dinosaur-like Digimon. It had green plates running down its back and three clawed arms, overall looking like a theropod. "Tyrannomon?" Falcomon said, joining Lucas and Veemon.

"You know that guy?" asked Lucas.

"I certainly do, but he's from miles away."

Lucas backflipped away as the Digimon spat forth a ball of flame that almost hit where he'd been standing. He was surprised by his reflexes and agility, but not unthankful for it. "Any idea why he's attacking us?" Lucas asked.

"No! He's usually very peaceful."

Tyrannomon gathered fire into his mouth again and Veemon shouted what they were all thinking; "Run!"

They ran in the direction of the portal, the direction Lucas and Falcomon had come, but Tyrannomon followed very closely behind. And he was bigger so it wasn't hard for him to keep up. Lucas felt the heat as a fireball struck just inches behind them. "Lucas!" Falcomon cried.

Lucas whirled around to see his new friend lying near the scorched ground; apparently he'd been just a bit too slow. And Tyrannomon was bearing down on him fast. "Get up!" Lucas called.

Falcomon tried, and failed. He didn't seem too badly injured, but he had no recovery time. Tyrannomon was standing over him and ready to breathe fire again. "Falcomon!" Lucas cried.

In a split second decision he hurled the boomerang. He'd never thrown a boomerang in his life, and yet he was surprised to see he'd thrown it with excellent force and precision. It hurtled through the air and smacked Tyrannomon's snout hard. The Digimon roared and stepped back, but it was clearly far from finished. "Pick on someone your own size!" Lucas called, and starting when he saw orange-red energy flare around the hand holding the boomerang

"That's it Lucas! That's why the Armour Egg of Courage responded to you," Veemon said, "Now just say 'Digi-Armour Energize' and we can stop this guy together."

"Huh? Uh, okay," Lucas replied. "Digi-Armour Energize!" he cried, placing the energy flaring hand on the top of the D-Phone.

A beam of energy of the same colour shot out and struck Veemon, who was momentarily engulfed in it. "Veemon Armour Digivolve to!" the Digimon cried.

Then the energy seemed to burn away, and left behind a very changed Veemon, being taller and having a more elongated head, almost bullet-shaped, covered in a sleek red helmet with yellow trim and a large, blade-like horn. There were belts on his upper arms and rounded, flame patterned gauntlets on his forearms with steel claws, similar armour on his feet, and on his thighs. "Flamedramon!" he cried, fire burning around him, and his voice different and more adult sounding.

"That was pretty cool," Lucas said simply, "Come on Flamedramon, let's show this guy it's not cool to push around others."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Flamedramon replied, jumping into the sky. "Flame Fist!" he cried shooting bolts of flame from its flaming gauntlet.

They struck and caused Tyrannomon to reel back in pain. This time it focused on Flamedramon with its fire breath. Lucas used this opportunity to get in and help Falcomon to his feet. "That was very brave Lucas," Falcomon said as Lucas carried him to what he felt was a safe distance. "I stopped for just a moment to see how far behind us he was, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground."

"It's not over yet," Lucas said, "Are you sure this guy is usually your friend?"

"I'm positive, yes. Something seems off about him though."

"Then I'll find out what it is," Lucas replied, dashing back to the battle.

It was a dangerous zone, but Flamedramon was keeping Tyrannomon distracted. He was checking his D-Phone to see if it could help, as well as circling the large Digimon to see if he could find something. "Anomaly detected," a voice from the D-Phone said, startling Lucas.

"I can talk?" he asked.

It was showing a scan of Tyrannomon and circling a spot on its neck. Looking at the Digimon Lucas saw a black spike sticking into the Digimon's neck. According to the D-Phone it wasn't supposed to be there. "Flamedramon!" he called, "Look on the back of his neck! There's a black spike thing."

"I see it!" the Digimon replied, "Ready Lucas!?"

"Ready!" he cried, "Boomerang Strike!" he cried, hurling his boomerang at the spike.

"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon said, engulfing himself in flames and hurtling towards the same spot.

The two attacks struck at the same exact time, and as Lucas caught his returning weapon he saw the spike crack and then explode into dust. In an instant Tyrannomon calmed down and looked around in confusion. "Where… am I?" he muttered.

Flamedramon landed beside Lucas and glowed briefly before reverting to Veemon, while the bolt of red energy shot back into the D-Phone. "Good job Lucas!" he said, raising his hand for a high five.

"Likewise," Lucas replied, returning the gesture.

A short while later the small group, now including Tyrannomon, stood near the portal through which Lucas had entered the Digital World; the dinosaur-like Digimon had been caught up on his actions, and had apologized profusely, especially to Falcomon. "It's ironic that happening, as it was the very reason I was coming down this way. There've been rumours of these 'black shards' embedding themselves in Digimon and turning them into violent brutes," Tyrannomon explained.

"Any idea where they're coming from?" Lucas asked.

"No. Just beware of them."

"I will," Lucas said, "Don't think I'm not coming back. This was the best time I've had in my life, and I'm not gonna turn down those in need. But I do need to get home."

"Don't forget about me Lucas," Veemon said, "We're partners remember?"

"Of course I do."

"And another tip, you can digitize that weapon again just by pressing the app."

"You mean like this?" Lucas asked, tapping the Defense Tool app.

In the blink of an eye the boomerang turned into a bolt of blue light and shot back into the D-Phone. "Yup! It was to be the most advanced Digivice ever created. The ancient Digimon made only a couple of 'em, meant for a very certain group of humans," Veemon explained.

"Me, Ayaka and Kenji," Lucas replied.

He tapped the Portal App and prepared to transfer. "You coming Falcomon?" he asked

"Oh… I'm not sure if I should," Falcomon replied, sounding nervous.

"Come on. You've been separated from Keenan for five years, it's time you saw him again."

"Well… alright," Falcomon replied, moving to stand next to Lucas.

Lucas aimed the D-Phone at the monitor on the tree, both the monitor and the digivice glowed, and then they were rushing through that tunnel again, before shooting out of the computer and crashing to the floor in a pile. "Word of advice Lucas," Falcomon said, "Work on the landing."

**End episode**


	2. Episode 2

**Episode 2**

"Alright young man, you're telling me where you were right now!" Lucas' mother yelled at him.

The moment Lucas had untangled himself from his Digimon he'd had them stay in his room while he, back in his school uniform, went downstairs to see if anyone had noticed he'd been gone. Unfortunately they had, his mom had hugged him crying, and his dad had come home early after hearing he was possibly missing. "We called Kenji's parents, Ayaka's, and even Keenan's," Lucas' dad said, "None of them had seen you. Do you know how worried we were?"

"Um, well…" Lucas stuttered, not sure what to say.

He'd never seen his parents like this. Sure they'd gotten angry with him from time to time, but never like this. He felt bad for making them worry, but he wished they'd stop yelling at him. His mom seemed to sense this and, after taking a shaky breath, she sat next to him and hugged him again. "I'm sorry for yelling sweetie," she said, "I was just so worried. Now please, tell us where you were."

"I think it'll be best if I bring in my visual aids," Lucas said, running to the stairs. "Hey guys! You can come down!"

"Who can come down?" his dad asked.

"You'll see, just please promise not to scream or anything."

"We promise," his mom replied.

Veemon and Falcomon came down the stairs and, rather to Lucas' surprise, neither of his parents broke their promise. "Mom, dad, this is Veemon and Falcomon. They're-"

"Digimon," Lucas' dad finished.

"Yeah, you mean you actually believed that stuff from five years ago?"

"We were there," his mom said, "We remember it clearly. I think you still have plenty of explaining to do though."

Lucas went back to the couch and explained the whole incident, from the moment that afternoon when his phone had transformed into a D-Phone, to his meeting Falcomon and Veemon, to his battle with Tyrannomon. His parents were quiet through the whole thing, and when he finished they both took deep breaths as they processed this information. "And I want to bring Falcomon to visit Keenan, and I have to talk to Kenji and Ayaka. Tyrannomon said-"

"Black Shards, I heard," Mr. Uchida said, "Let's keep it to one thing at a time."

"Okay, what do we start with?" Lucas asked, his stomach immediately growling.

"I would say dinner," Mrs. Uchida said. "I'll make sure to make a little extra for your new friends."

"Really? Thanks mom!" replied Lucas before jumping to his feet and racing back up to his room.

Lucas quickly changed out of his school uniform and into white track shorts and a blue t-shirt and started up the video game Soldier's Duty, having Falcomon and Veemon join him. Falcomon was used to the idea, but Veemon was new to it, though extremely eager. And to Lucas' surprise, Veemon was really good. Lucas was so engrossed he almost missed his phone ringing. "Oh hang on guys," he said, pausing the game, "It's Keenan!" he said with surprise, seeing the caller ID and answering. "Hello?"

"Hey Lucas, are you alright? Where were you?" Keenan asked, sounding both relieved and curious. "Your mom called and said they'd found you."

"Yeah I was, uh, just out for a walk. If you could come over tomorrow after school I can explain it better."

"Alright I will. And you're alright?"

"Perfectly fine," Lucas assured, "See ya."

He hung up the phone and grinned, "There you go Falcomon, tomorrow after school."

"Really? I hope he'll remember me. I mean I'm sure he will, but it's just been so long and I've started taking better care of my talons and…"

"Calm down dude," Veemon said, "He's your buddy, so he'll recognize you."

"Yeah, friends are always friends. Speaking of which I have to text Kenji and Ayaka, I need them here tomorrow too."

"Why's that?" Falcomon asked.

"They got D-Phones too, so I need to bring them to the Digital World. Veemon said he was waiting for someone bearing a D-Phone. So that means-"

"It means that there are two more Digimon waiting for their human partners to show up," Veemon confirmed proudly.

"Yeah," Lucas said dejectedly, "See? This is why people think I'm stupid; they steal my moments of glory."

"Lucas! Dinner's ready!" his mom called just as he finished sending his texts.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Lucas cried, racing down the stairs.

Dinner was considerably more active than usual, which was saying a lot when Lucas was a common participant. Veemon ate plenty too, and with the same speed as his partner. And Falcomon was quickly remembering a similar situation to this from many years ago, while Lucas' parents found themselves laughing at the antics of their new guests.

At last Lucas and the two Digimon finished eating. "Isn't my mom the best cook ever?" Lucas asked, putting his plate in the sink."

"Totally," Veemon added.

"Why thank you Veemon," Mrs. Uchida said.

"I'm going to say she's tied for best cook," Falcomon said, "I stayed with the Damons last time I was here."

"Oh yes, Sarah is a very skilled chef," Mrs. Uchida said cheerily, though sounding also somewhat competitive and even ever so slightly annoyed.

"Come on Falcomon, I just remembered something really cool to show you!" Lucas cried, dragging him, and Veemon, with him back to his room.

"Lucas, what was that about?" Falcomon asked as the boy collapsed on his bed with relief.

"My mom and Mrs. Damon have been entering the same cooking contest for the last four years. They both enter fried eggs too. They're kind of rivals, because Mrs. Damon always ranks higher than my mom. Because I'm friends with Kristy, mom tries not to keep respectful and friendly, but you don't want to get her going."

"Oh, I didn't mean to be insulting."

"You weren't being insulting, moms are just crazy."

"So Lucas, want to go back to getting your butt kicked on Soldier's Duty?" Veemon asked.

"You're on!"

"I guess it runs in the family," Falcomon muttered sarcastically.

"You joining in too Falcomon?" asked Lucas.

"No thanks, I think I'll just watch this time."

"So… you stayed with the Damons last time did you?" Lucas asked as he and Veemon started playing.

"Yes, it's part of quite a long story."

"Then tell it."

Right up until bed Falcomon told Lucas and Veemon of the Digimon and their human partners from five years ago. He left out information pertaining to the humans, such as Kristy's brother and the bulk of Keenan's past, saying he wouldn't feel comfortable talking about things like that. But Lucas was surprised to learn that Ms. Fujieda, the police officer who seemed to be friends with Keenan and Kristy, was one of the ones who'd had a Digimon partner. And Dr. Norstein, as well as a couple other police officers and an old fisherman who Lucas had seen a couple times. It actually explained rather well how Keenan and Kristy seemed to know these people.

At about ten o'clock Mr. Uchida appeared at Lucas' door and told him it was time for bed, and Lucas grudgingly changed into his blue pajama shorts and white t-shirt and layed out some sleeping bags for Veemon and Falcomon. Lucas found he was actually quite tired though, because he dropped off in seconds.

(())

The next day Lucas hurried to school after breakfast, and telling Veemon and Falcomon to stay home for now. Just like always he met up with Keenan and Kristy about a quarter of the way there and, almost immediately after he called out to them he found himself being hugged by Kristy. "Don't scare people like that," she reprimanded, "Your parents weren't the only ones worried when you decided to just vanish like that!"

"I know Kristy, lemme go," Lucas said, his voice muffled by the hug.

"Where were you?" she asked, still holding his shoulders.

"I'll tell you after school, promise."

"You better," Keenan said, "Or I'll start telling people how we actually met."

"You wouldn't."

"Maybe, maybe not."

"You know I never break a promise, I don't need to be threatened," Lucas said defensively.

The subject was dropped as they walked the rest of the way to school, though the topic was still clearly distracting both of them. Lucas, for his part, was distracted all day by Digimon, the Digital World and also Keenan's threat. It was one of his more embarrassing moments, his actual meeting with Keenan, and he preferred to not mention it. And of course his mysterious attitude was earning him Kenji and Ayaka's annoyance as well. They'd been just as worried, but he was able to satisfy them by telling them he knew what their phones were.

Then finally, after several more hours of school, in which Lucas felt like he would die of boredom, he was free. He raced home and found Veemon and Falcomon playing video games. "Get ready Falcomon," Lucas said when the doorbell rang about thirty minutes later.

Falcomon looked incredibly nervous, but he nodded. "Lucas! Keenan and Kristy are here!" Mrs. Uchida called.

"Come on Falcomon," Lucas said, "But wait for my queue."

Lucas dashed down the stairs to see Keenan and Kristy standing there. "So are you going to explain where you were?" Keenan asked.

"Yup," Lucas said, "But first I have someone who wants to see you."

Lucas raised his voice here and he heard someone coming down the stairs, meaning Falcomon had heard. "Who wants to see… me," Keenan trailed off as Falcomon appeared.

"Hello Keenan," the Digimon said nervously.

"No way… Falcomon?" asked Keenan in disbelief.

"Yup, Falcomon," Lucas confirmed.

"You've grown Keenan," Falcomon said.

"Falcomon!" Keenan cried, sounding suddenly five years younger and the two friends hugged each other happily. "I can't believe you're here!" Keenan cried, crying tears of joy, "I was sure I'd never see you again."

"I've missed you too Keenan," Falcomon said.

"See Falcomon, Lucas Uchida always keeps a promise," Lucas said.

"Thank you Lucas," Falcomon replied as he and Keenan separated, "And Keenan… Lucas tells me you're getting along well with your family, and you treat him just like a sibling as well."

"Oh, uh, yeah I guess," Keenan replied sheepishly.

"Yeah, and you know what brothers do? Even honorary brothers? They don't keep secrets," Lucas added angrily, "Right Keenan? Right Kristy?"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry Lucas," Keenan said with a chuckle, "You're right, I trusted you enough to give you my boomerang, I should've told you the whole story earlier."

"I'm sorry too Lucas," Kristy added.

"And I'm sorry Kristy, I didn't meet Biyomon. Not yet anyways," said Lucas. "But hey, you guys need to meet my Digimon."

Lucas called for Veemon and the blue dragon boy appeared as quickly as Lucas himself would. "Keenan, Kristy, this is Veemon," Lucas said, "Veemon, this is Keenan and Kristy."

"Nice to meet'cha both," Veemon said, "I'm Lucas' partner."

"But I still don't understand," Keenan said, "How did you meet Digimon? How did they come here?"

"It's the D-Phone," Veemon replied, "It's the greatest digivice ever created, and I'm one of the Digimon connected to one."

"I'll tell the rest when Ayaka and Kenji get here," Lucas explained, "And Keenan, do I get my secret to remain secret?"

"Yes, yes."

"What secret?" Veemon asked.

"It's nothing," Lucas said.

"No secrets between partners," Veemon countered, something Lucas was hoping nobody would think of.

"You _did_ say friends shouldn't keep secrets didn't you?" Kristy said.

"He always says that," Mrs. Uchida added, an amused smile on her face, being one of the only other people who'd heard the story.

"Fine," Lucas replied with annoyance. "It's how I actually met Keenan. It _was_ because we share the same school routes, but there was a bit more to it."

"He was six," Mrs. Uchida chimed in, "And he was bragging about being old enough to walk to school on his own. So I had him keep his phone on at all times and to call the moment something went wrong."

"When I was walking home I saw this really tall tree," Lucas came in, "And I thought it would be really cool if I climbed it. I'd heard kids saying it'd be too scary to climb it, so I climbed it to prove I wasn't a chicken. But I didn't think about, um, getting down. And I tried to call mom, but I dropped my phone and so I was stuck.  
"Then Keenan was walking by and saw me up there, he was eleven, and he climbed the tree like it was nothing and rescued me. He didn't have to; I could've been some stupid little kid as far as he was concerned. But nope, he got me down _and_ walked me home and told my mom what had happened. I think that was one of the coolest things anyone's ever done for me, that and when he punched out that bully. But it was embarrassing that I got stuck in a tree so that's why I don't tell the whole story."

Keenan was blushing at the flattery, but doing his best to keep from seeming too flattered. "It's not the last time I've had to rescue him either. Or him and my sister once, but that's a big brother's job."

"You've definitely grown into a young man Keenan," Falcomon said, "I couldn't be more proud… and Frigimon would be very proud too."

"Yeah…" Keenan replied distantly.

"You got stuck in a tree?" came Ayaka's voice, surprising Lucas.

"Ayaka! Kenji! When did you get here?" Lucas asked with surprise.

"Your mom let us in, just in time to hear the story about you getting stuck in a tree," Kenji replied.

"I was six, shut up."

"Now we're all here, it's time you cough up the whole story," Ayaka pressured.

Lucas had everyone move into the living room and there he told them about the D-Phones and his trip to the Digital World. "So that's my story," Lucas finished, "Keenan, Kristy, your turn now. Mostly Keenan."

"You're right Lucas," Keenan said, "It was fifteen years ago now that my story starts. My dad, he'd built the first gate to the Digital World as part of a small group's research on it. The portal activated on its own and I was sucked through, just a little baby. A snowman-like Digimon named Frigimon found me and took me in, even against the wishes of the region's ruler Merukimon."

Keenan launched into a story about how he'd been raised by Frigimon like a mom, and with Falcomon like a brother. He explained how he'd often been sick when little, and Falcomon found him annoying. "Then one day this mad scientist, a human named Kurata, he came to the Digital World and used weapons to destroy Digimon. My mom, er, I mean Frigimon was out looking for medicine for me and she was shot too."

"But Digimon never die for real," Veemon piped up, "We just get re-configured."

"Kurata had special weapons, designed to delete Digimon permanently," Keenan said, crying a little, "That's when I made that boomerang. I wanted to become a warrior to defend the Digital World, I was convinced I _was_ a Digimon and I was willing to fight humans to do so, and if not for Falcomon and Merukimon I might have ended up no better than Kurata."

"That's… horrible," Lucas said, and even despite all the people watching he suddenly found himself hugging Keenan. "So that's why you were so worried about me."

"Of course, I already lost a mom; I don't want to lose a brother," Keenan confirmed, returning the gesture.

"I promise, you'll never lose me," Lucas replied, "And remember, I keep my promises."

"So what happened next?" Veemon asked.

"I think Kristy needs to provide a little background here," said Keenan.

"Yeah," Kristy agreed, "It's quite simple; I have an older brother."

"You what!?" Lucas asked with surprise.

"Yup, his name is Marcus; he's the final member of the old group. His Digimon is Agumon."

"I met a couple Agumon," Veemon said, "They're kind of like our sister species. Agumon is a dinosaur, I'm a dragon. It's very simple."

"Right, anyways at the end of the events five years ago he went to live in the Digital World, to help serve as sort of a peacekeeping agent I guess," Kristy said, looking sad, "I miss him, but I know he's okay as long as Agumon is with him."

"It was when Marcus, Yoshi and Dr. Norstein came to the Digital World that I started to realize the Digimon-Human conflict was more complex than I'd thought," Keenan said, explaining how Kurata had destroyed Merukimon, how the Digimon ruler had told Keenan he was a human who understood Digimon, and how Keenan had met his real family and joined Marcus in the fight against Kurata, and then the Digital World's creator itself; Yggdrasil.

Then at last the stories were finished and Lucas, Ayaka and Kenji were left to take in all they'd heard. "Wow Lucas, you're thinking," Ayaka teased, "What about?"

"Things, but I'm done thinking now. Here's what we're going to do; we're going to find your partners, we're going to reunite the Data Squad people with theirs, and we're going to find Marcus."

"You can't be serious," said Ayaka.

"This Black Shard Plague has to have a source, and it threatens an entire world. I'm not quitting out on something I've started," Lucas explained, "And Keenan, you and Kristy are coming with us."

"We are?" Keenan asked.

"I'll need a guide, you grew up there, and Kristy just because."

"I don't think my mom would be too happy about me vanishing into the Digital World again," Keenan said.

"Do you have your digivices?"

"Sure," Kristy said, pulling hers from her pocket, and Keenan doing the same.

"Then come on! Enough talking and more doing."

Lucas had all of them crowd into his room, but took a moment to run down to his mom and hug her. "I promise I'll be back mom," he said.

"I know. If Sarah can handle it, than so can I."

Lucas grinned and dashed upstairs to the head of the group, already starting the Portal App. "This thing will work with inferior digivice models right?" he asked Veemon.

"It should."

"Then let's go," replied Lucas, while everyone pointed their digivices at the computer monitor.

The screens glowed bright and there was that feeling of rushing down a slope while inside a glowing tunnel. Then they were in the forest again, though Lucas was sure it was a different part of the forest from before. He looked down at his clothes to see they'd changed back to their Digital World form.

Ayaka and Kenji were both noticing their clothing changes too. Ayaka was wearing a dark red-pink coloured short sleeved leather jacket, a white shirt, and purple-grey denim shorts. Like Lucas' outfit there were hardened leather triangles over the chest and on the shoulders, though on Ayaka's outfit they were coloured purple-grey like her shorts. She also had the same forearm pads, though coloured the same as her jacket. And she wore hightop sneakers as well, coloured white.

Kenji wore an athletic protection vest, once again featuring hardened leather triangles on the chest and shoulders, with the vest itself being grey, and the hardened parts being dark green, the same colour as the cargo shorts he now wore. He had the forearm pads as well, and hightop sneakers that were grey in colour. Lucas got a laugh at the colour of the short sleeves poking out from under Kenji's vest which were; "A pink shirt!?" Kenji cried.

"Looks like the Digital World has different ideas about a good wardrobe for you eh Kenji?" Lucas laughed.

"At least it's a dark pink," Ayaka said.

It was dark pink, or a more grey-pink, but the pink colour was still noticeable. "Yeah, plus real men wear pink," Lucas added. "Hey look, the teenagers didn't change."

The other two looked over at Keenan and Kristy who were still wearing their school uniforms. "I guess the wardrobe change is an aspect of the D-Phone," Ayaka said.

"I was dressed much differently last time I was here," Keenan said.

"Oh yeah? What were you wearing?" asked Ayaka.

"I have a photo on my phone actually," Kristy said, quickly scrolling through her phone.

"Aww Kristy," Keenan moaned in protest.

"You looked cute in it, how could I not save a picture," Kristy said, "Here it is."

She turned the phone to the three kids to show a picture of a boy their age with some of his hair in a sort of braid on one side of his face, though wrapped in cloth so it was difficult to tell if it truly was a braid. He had blue war paint on his face, and wore a ragged green-brown cloak, orange shorts and a sleeveless white-yellow shirt, all looking like they were made of basic materials and overall making him look like a North American First Nations boy. "That's awesome," Lucas said.

"Shut up," Keenan muttered, turning red again.

"Look, he even had a feather necklace thing," Ayaka pointed out.

"I think it's cool," Lucas said, "Not cool like what we get, but still cool."

"See Keenan? No need to be embarrassed," Kristy added.

"Alright let's go," said Lucas, "First we have to find the missing partners. Just check the map function on your D-Phones, it'll point us in the direction of the 'companions'."

"Over there," Kenji said, checking his D-Phone and pointing to his left.

"Same for me actually," Ayaka added.

"Then let's get going," said Veemon, dashing off in the direction they indicated, followed closely by Lucas.

"Those two have enough energy to power a small town," said Kenji, following closely after.

Kenji and Ayaka managed to catch up rather easily, but Keenan and Kristy seemed to have greater difficulty doing so. "How are you three so fast?" Keenan asked when they caught up. "I know you're quick Lucas, but I've never seen you this quick."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that part," Veemon piped up, "What was it… oh yeah, 'the D-Phones alter the physiology of the humans who have them to be stronger, faster and more durable so they can fight alongside their partners.'"

"How'd you remember that?" Lucas asked.

"The guys who put us to sleep made us take a class."

"Oh yeah! Ayaka, Kenji, check out the Defense App, I want to see what you guys got."

His friends tapped their phones as they walked and were surprised when a bolt of energy came out of it, green for Kenji and red-pink for Ayaka, and materialized into objects. Kenji held a green and grey baseball bat, and Ayaka had a deep red yo-yo. "Cool," they said in unison.

"Is a yo-yo really a weapon?" Ayaka asked.

"Well my boomerang seemed to smack that Tyrannomon pretty hard, so I'd have to say these things are tougher than they look," said Lucas.

"I agree Lucas," Kenji added, "And look, we're close to our companions."

Ahead of them they could see a clearing where they could vaguely see two stone huts, similar to the Shrine of Courage. As they neared it there was a sudden commotion from above; the sound of something attacking in the air, and a loud buzzing of insectoid wings. "Twin sickles!" cried a voice.

"That sounds like a Snimon," Keenan said.

"Leave me alone!" shouted a voice that made Kristy stiffen.

"That's Biyomon," she said, "Biyomon!"

"Kristy!?" the voice called.

"Biyomon, I'm here!"

"Keenan!" Falcomon cried.

"Right!" affirmed Keenan, getting out his digivice, "DNA Charge!" he cried, his hand glowing with some kind of energy… but only for a moment.

"What happened?" asked Lucas.

"I'm not sure," Keenan said, "Let me try again."

"It's no use," said a gravelly voice as a Digimon who looked like a skinny teddy bear made of rocks appeared.

"Gotsumon?" Keenan asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's no use, those Black Shards prevent digivolving," Gotsumon explained.

"Not all digivolving," Veemon said proudly, "You know what to do Lucas!"

"I sure do," Lucas said, his hand igniting with orange-red energy, which he fed into his D-Phone, "Digi-Armour Energize!"

The same beam of orange-red energy shot out as before. "Veemon Armour Digivolve to…" Veemon cried, like before, "Flamedramon!" he finished, just as the energy cleared.

"Armour Digivolving huh?" Gotsumon said.

"Keenan, Kristy, you go with Kenji and Ayaka," Lucas ordered, "They need their partners and their Armour Eggs."

"What about you?" Kristy asked.

"I got this, don't worry," Lucas replied, "Flamedramon, find the bug and get it down here!"

The other four ran towards the shrines while Flamedramon rocketed into the sky, but the sounds of footsteps signalled the arrival of more Digimon behind them. "Are you sure he'll be okay?" Kristy asked.

"This is Lucas we're talking about," Keenan replied, "He'll be fine."

"I think we're the ones in trouble. If those Black Shards prevent us from digivolving," Falcomon explained, "Then we're next to useless."

"We can still cheer them on," piped in Biyomon, appearing from the canopy and fluttering down to fly beside them.

"Biyomon!" Kristy cried happily at the sight of the pink bird-child like Digimon.

"You've sure grown Kristy."

"Here we are," Kenji said as they reached the middle of the clearing and stood between the two shrines, "I'm… nervous."

"I'm curious more than anything," said Ayaka, dashing up the short flight of steps and into the stone hut.

There she saw a white egg-like object with two curved wings and a purple symbol sort of like a heart on the front. "I guess I just pick it up?" she murmured to herself, picking the Armour Egg up.

Immediately red energy poured out and coalesced into a Digimon, this one a bird-like Digimon similar to Biyomon, but with a red body, and a white hawk-like head with a belt wrapped around it and a feather sticking up the back. "Well hello there," the Digimon said, "I'm Hawkmon, nice to meet you Ayaka."

"Nice to meet you Hawkmon," Ayaka said politely, "We're partners now right?"

"That's correct," Hawkmon replied pleasantly, "Now doesn't your friend need you?"

"Lucas!" Ayaka cried, her hand suddenly flaring with red energy, and she already knew what to do, "Digi-Armour Energize!"

She clasped the top of her D-Phone with the flaring hand and a beam of red energy shot out and struck Hawkmon. Like Veemon, Hawkmon was engulfed in the energy for a moment, stating the armour digivolution, and when the energy dissipated a new Digimon was standing there, looking like a larger Hawkmon on four legs, with a helmet that resembled the Armour Egg. "I am Halsemon, Hawkmon's Armour Digivolution of Love," the Digimon explained, "Now come, let's go lend this Lucas a hand."

Ayaka nodded and climbed onto her new partner's back, who took off from the shrine. Meanwhile Kenji had found his own Armour Egg. This one looked like a pair of leaves in an egg shape, with a shuriken attached to the bottom. Upon picking it up green energy poured out and materialized into a Digimon in the shape of a large armadillo. "Hey there Kenji, I'm Armadillomon. Nice to meet'cha," the Digimon said.

"Nice to meet you, but we can't talk. My friend needs help," Kenji explained quickly.

"Well you know what to do."

"I do," Kenji affirmed, his hand flaring with green energy. "Digi-Armour Energize!"

"Armadillomon armour digivolve to," the Digimon said as the green energy engulfed him.

When the energy dissipated a larger Digimon stood in Armadillomon's place. This Digimon looked like a yellow frog and was about the size of a donkey, he had a red metal cybernetic plate on his back from which extended a pair of green propellers that looked like very angular flowers, as well as a large leaf-like hood. He had a grip on a pair of weapons that Kenji couldn't remember the name of, and a holstered dagger on each leg. "Frogmon here," the Digimon said, "Thanks to the Armour Egg of Sincerity I could armour digivolve."

"Right, now let's go help Lucas," said Kenji, dashing out the door and just seeing Halsemon fly back towards where Lucas was.

When the two returned to him, Lucas was dodging blows from a green dinosaur-like Digimon with large horns coming out its shoulders and a pair of horns on its nose, called Tuskmon apparently, while Flamedramon was in combat with a green, praying mantis like Digimon who could only be Snimon, as well as a large one-horned dinosaur like Digimon with a grey hide called Monochromon. "Great! You guys are back!" Lucas cried as he jumped onto a stump and hurled his boomerang towards the black spike in Tuskmon's back. "Bird guy, go deal with Snimon, and Kenji, you and your frog buddy deal with Monochromon."

"Right," his friends agreed.

"And Flamedramon, you come help me."

"I'm on it," the Digimon said, turning around and hurtling downwards. "Fire rocket!" he cried, fire raging across his body.

"Boomerang Strike!"

Lucas' boomerang struck Tuskmon's snout, stunning him just in time for Flamedramon's attack to connect, causing the Black Shard to crack and explode into dust. Meanwhile Kenji was taking advantage of his enhanced body to keep Monochromon's attention, and found his bat had the ability to launch baseball-sized energy projectiles. Then Frogmon's voice rang out from the trees, "Hidden Dagger!" he cried, appearing on a branch and hurling the weapons in his hands at the Black Shard lodged in Monochromon's hide. That shard broke too, and Frogmon used his propellers to hover down to the ground.

Finally in the air, Snimon was already weakened from fighting Flamedramon and Ayaka found her yo-yo to strike hard enough to stun as well, after which Halsemon cried "Eagle Eye!" and launched a pair of red energy arrows from his eyes, which struck the final Black Shard and destroyed it.

"Alright!" all three kids cried in unison.

A few minutes later they'd all regrouped in the clearing, with the formerly berserk Digimon back to normal, and Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon back in their rookie forms. "Thanks for the help," Snimon hissed.

"Anytime guys," Lucas replied, "This is so much fun I could do it all day."

"I don't know if I'd call it fun," Ayaka said, "But I'm glad we could help. And I'm glad you're okay Lucas."

"Pfft, you don't have to worry about me."

"We _always_ have to worry about you," Kenji replied, "But we did what we had to; we helped those in need."

"Isn't that what being in DATS is all about?" Kristy asked.

"We're not in DATS," Lucas said.

"That's right! They're not agents," Hawkmon said, "They're Digi-Destined."

"I do like the sound of that," Lucas said, "Alright Digi-Destined, let's head home!"

The group waved good-bye to the Digimon they'd rescued and returned to the portal, and while they felt victorious for the day, someone else wasn't so happy. This someone else watched them coldly from the shadows as the returned through the portal, before turning on his heel and walking off… a cycloptic grey blob hovering around his head.

**End Episode**


	3. Episode 3

**Episode 3**

It wasn't for another couple days that Lucas was able to get into the Digital World. Despite being Digi-destined he was still a ten year old boy, and he had soccer practice and school to deal with. But over those days Ayaka discovered that the D-Phones could also act as storage devices for their Digimon, and while Veemon definitely complained about it being cramped he preferred being cooped up in a D-Phone with his partner than being cooped up at home all day.

However Lucas, as he often tried to impress upon Ayaka, wasn't as dumb as he looked, especially with a planner like Kenji and a smartypants like Ayaka as friends. If they were to make any progress with finding Marcus and stopping the Black Shards they'd need to be in the Digital World more often. But the DATS crew were useless against Black Shard Digimon, because the shards blocked their digivolution. So the only way for them to make progress would be for the old DATS team to have some way of resisting the influence of the shards.

"This Digimon stuff has actually got you thinking," Ayaka teased again as the final bell rang, "I'm glad to see it, now if only you'd apply that concentration to school."

"Or that structure from your plan of action," Kenji added.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going to the police department. Wanna come with?"

"What? Why?"

"I want to talk to Ms. Fujieda," Lucas explained simply, "The DATS command team are cops now, but they're the only ones who could create a way for their Digimon to resist the Black Shards."

Ayaka and Kenji both blinked with surprise, "Wow Lucas. I didn't know you were capable of that kind of… planning," the latter said.

"Would you guys stop teasing me and tell me if you're coming?" Lucas snapped.

"Calm down," Ayaka said, "And I'm sorry, but I can't. I have to get home; mom needs me to help out with stocking the shelves."

Ayaka's family owned a general store, so she had to help out sometimes. "And I can't either," said Kenji, "I have taichi."

"Fine, then it'll just be me and Veemon. See ya later!"

When Lucas got outside he made his way towards the police department. It was a little ways from his school, so he had to grab a bus. He also made sure to text his mom and Keenan to let them know where he was going. He didn't want a repeat of the other night. Keenan couldn't come either; he had to babysit Ruka, his sister. And neither could Kristy, she wanted to catch up with Biyomon, and she was still just getting used to her digivice. Plus her mom wanted her to taste test her latest cooking creation. "Remember to not tell mom about that one, alright Veemon?" said Lucas.

"Believe me I know," Veemon said from the D-Phone, "I asked her about that cooking contest a couple days ago, and I didn't think I'd ever get out of there."

They arrived at the police station after about a forty minute bus ride, or at least the closest bus stop to the police station. From there it was about a ten minute walk, though Lucas made it in seven when he utilized some of his new speed. He suspected he could make it in five if he really tried, but he didn't want to stand out just yet. "So Lucas, why do humans have to wear those fancy clothes to go to school?" Veemon asked, referencing the blue shorts and black blazer that consisted of Lucas' school uniform.

"Because school is stupid," replied Lucas simply, "Adults try to explain it, but as far as I'm concerned it's just because school is stupid."

They reached the police department and Lucas pushed open the doors to enter the lobby and looked around. It was fairly sizable, and there were more than a few people hanging around for one reason or another. One help window was open though, so he jogged up to that. "Hey there kid, this better be important," the woman behind the desk said, not sounding particularly thrilled at having to speak to him.

"Is Officer Fujieda in?" Lucas asked bluntly.

"Yes," the woman said after briefly checking her computer.

"Can I speak to her?"

"No, she's busy."

"What about Officer Kurosaki?"

"She's here."

"Can I talk to her?"

"No."

"Officer Shirakawa? Officer Sampson?"

"Both here, both not available to talk to you."

"Are you just saying this because I'm ten?" Lucas asked, getting annoyed.

"Look kid, it's great that you're showing such interest in your local police department. But officers of the law aren't here for you to just waltz in and chat to. If you have something specific to report, then do it, otherwise please leave."

'I can't believe I'm about to do this,' Lucas thought bitterly.

He mustered up all the childish charm he could and tried to look as cute as he could. "Please miss," he said in a weak, almost crying tone, "Can I just talk to one of them. I won't be much trouble."

The woman's expression softened as she looked at him. "Oh alright," she conceded, "Officer Fujieda, please report to the front. A young boy would like to speak with you."

"Thanks miss! You're really pretty," Lucas said happily, going to sit at a waiting chair as indicated.

Once he sat down he sighed and let the act drop. "What was that!?" Veemon asked, sounding amused and impressed.

"My secret weapon; Lucas' Patented Cutesy Act, it's incredibly degrading and it makes me look like a wuss, but it usually gets adults to do things my way," Lucas explained, "And you _never_ tell anyone about. Got it Veemon?"

"Sure thing, but do your friends know."

"Yeah they've seen it, and I swore them all to secrecy too."

"Then my lips are sealed."

A few minutes later an auburn haired woman entered the lobby and walked straight towards him. "So are you the little boy who wanted to see me?" she asked.

"I'm not a little boy, I'm ten," Lucas protested. "But yes, I'm Lucas Uchida. Are you Officer Fujieda?"

"In the flesh," the woman said, "What's this about?"

"Digimon," said Lucas bluntly, getting straight to the point.

This got her attention and she quickly ushered him outside to her car. Once inside she turned to him, looking like she was ready to take him more seriously. "So Digimon, what about them?" she asked.

"Well, this is Veemon," Lucas said, turning his phone to her and showing Veemon in it.

"Hey there Human World Police Lady!" Veemon said cheerily.

"That can't be… I thought the-"

"Gate was closed," Lucas interrupted, "I know. Keenan and Kristy are two of my best friends, and you're a bit late to the party actually."

He did his best to bring her up to date; about the Digi-destined, the D-Phones, the Black Shards, and Armour Digivolution. "And we've been keeping an eye out for Lalamon, the Chessmon, and any other old partners."

"Wow," Officer Fujieda exclaimed when he finished, "Digi-destined huh? What makes you so different from the DATS team?"

"The Digital World chose us," Lucas answered simply.

"So why are you coming to me?"

"Well Officer Fujied-"

"You can call me Yoshi. Any friend of Keenan's is a friend of mine."

"Right, well Yoshi… there needs to be more of us. Me, Ayaka and Kenji can only be active for so long. We really need help if we're going to make any progress in stopping these Black Shards. Even if only one of us three can open a portal, as long as we can always have a team on standby it'll be helpful. Keenan and Kristy are able to help us more regularly, but they have the same problem all of you DATS people have; your Digimon can't digivolve in the presence of Black Shards."

"I think I see where you're going."

"I wanted to get into contact with the DATS command team, the people who became cops, because you're the only ones who might be able to create something to help resist the Black Shards. And if your Digimon can't digivolve, than Agumon can't either, which means-"

"Which means Marcus could be in danger," Yoshi finished, "No, I see the big picture. Something really bad is going on in the Digital World, and we need to do something."

"We Digi-destined are still new, and there're only three of us. Whether the Digital World chose us, or humans chose us, we all have Digimon partners, and we're just two parts of the same team," Lucas said, "Like in soccer; you have your offense and your defense. They're two different groups, but they're on the same team."

"You're smarter than you look," Yoshi said, much to Lucas' pleasure, "Alright I'll talk to Sampson and the girls. We might be able to knock off early. Where would you like to meet us?"

"My house," Lucas said with a sigh, giving her his address. 'I really need to find a better place for this,' he thought, 'My room can only handle so much.'

"Alright, I'll see you tonight then," said Yoshi.

"And bring your Digivices," added Lucas, "We'll be going to the Digital World, because you need to see what's going on for yourselves."

"I'll make sure to tell them that."

With that Lucas made his way towards home, toying with his D-Phone on the way. He wanted to find a way to shift where the Portal spat them out. It had sent them to two different exits in the same forest, but he wasn't sure if it could be forced to happen or if it was just luck. Or perhaps the portal itself picking the destination it figured was most suitable. Even then there had to be a way to override that.

When he got home he started texting Ayaka, to see if she had any ideas. She was busy though and couldn't look at the D-Phones. So he went back to looking at it himself. "Do you have any idea how to change the portal destination?" he asked Veemon, now out of the digivice.

"Sorry Lucas, we were only told the basics," Veemon said.

The VidChat on his computer rang, and Lucas answered it to see Keenan was the caller. "Hey there Lucas," he said pleasantly, "My sister dozed off, so I'm just letting her sleep."

"Hey Keenan," said Lucas cheerily.

"Did things go well?"

"Yup, they're coming over here in a couple hours. How's Falcomon?"

"Present and accounted for," the bird Digimon said, appearing on camera, "We practiced digivolving yesterday to make sure it worked."

"And it did," Keenan added, "So it really is those Black Shards."

"At least you're thorough," Lucas said.

"When you spend your entire childhood thinking one thing, only to find out it's false, you learn to be thorough. What're you up to?"

"I'm trying to see if I can choose our portal destinations," Lucas explained.

"Any luck?"

"No. And I don't have Ayaka's help either."

"You'll have the DATS people though," Keenan said, "And I might have an idea of my own."

"Really?" Lucas asked as the doorbell rang.

"Yeah, I'll get working on it now, hopefully it'll kick in while the DATS command is there," said Keenan, "Later."

He hung up the VidChat and Lucas rushed downstairs to see a number of people standing in the hallway; there was Yoshi of course, then there was a lady with straight purple hair, and another lady with short blonde hair. There were also two guys, one a very tall, muscular man with dark hair and shades, and a short, portly man with a largely bald head, his remaining hair and mustache being grey in colour and wearing round glasses. "Hey, you're that fisherman!" Lucas cried.

"You called these people did you dear?" Mrs. Uchida asked.

"Yeah mom, they're police officers, and old friends of Keenan and Kristy."

"Hello Mrs. Uchida," Yoshi said, "I'm Yoshino Fujieda, pleased to meet you, and we're sorry if we're imposing."

"It's not an imposition," Lucas' mom said, "Lucas has brought home much stranger things than cops or Digimon."

"Mom!"

"Anyways," Yoshi said, "This is Miki Kurosaki," she added, gesturing to the purple haired woman, "Megumi Shirakawa," she continued, gesturing to the blonde, "And I think the men should introduce themselves."

"I'm former Commander Richard Sampson, formerly of DATS," the large man said, "And this was my superior, Commander-General Homer Yushima."

"Pleasure to meet you all," Lucas said, "I'm Lucas Uchida, leader of the Digi-destined."

"Yes I know," said Sampson, "Yoshi gave us the basics on our way over. Now perhaps you can bring us all up to date fully."

"Sure! Oh yeah, and this is Veemon," Lucas added, gesturing to the blue Digimon who'd just come down the stairs.

"Pleased to meet'cha."

So once again Lucas found himself explaining the events of his recent life, from getting a D-Phone to the last trip into the Digital World. When he was done he saw Sampson lean back in his seat. "You're a leader, a reckless leader, but a leader," he said.

"I do what I know has to be done," Lucas explained, "And I know my friends have my back, and they know that I have theirs. But I don't want you here to complain about how I handle my team, I want you here to show you what's going on in person."

"Hm, the boy reminds me of you Richard," Yushima said, "A good deal friendlier though."

"As Yoshi said, a friend of Keenan's is a friend of mine. And Kristy's my friend, and her brother is in danger out there. We Digi-destined are too few to save him all on our own, so DATS needs to join us. Even if you're just advising, you need to return to duty."

"And we need to counteract the Black Shards," Sampson summarized.

"Before you can do that though you need to see them first hand; so did you all bring your digivices like I asked?"

"We did," Sampson answered.

"Then let's go," Lucas said, turning his D-Phone on his mom's laptop, "Sorry mom, I'm borrowing this."

The computer screen, and the digivices, glowed and after that rushing tunnel Lucas found himself standing in a forest, this time with an appearance closer to what he was used to in Japan. However nearby he could see train tracks running through the forest. "So it really does work," Sampson muttered.

"Of course it works," replied Lucas confidently, "And once again only the clothes of the guy with the D-Phone changed."

"That's why you're Digi-destined," said Veemon.

"I didn't know the Digital World had a train system," Yoshi said, looking through the trees.

"So the portal spit us out somewhere different again," replied Lucas.

"You wanted us to look at that too, correct?" Yushima asked.

"Yeah, but not now. So your partners are Lalamon, a pair of PawnChessmon, Kamemon and Kudamon, right?"

"You mean these Digimon?" asked a cold voice from above.

They looked up to see a trio of serpentine Digimon with bony exoskeletons on their heads, yellow hair and large, orange, draconic wings, and a Black Shard lodged in each of their heads. Hanging from ropes tied around their bodies were five Digimon; one that looked a pink flower upside down on a round green body, a pair that looked like large chess pieces with helmets and limbs, one who looked like a turtle with a helmet, and one who was like a white ferret. "Lalamon!" cried Yoshi.

"I thought so," said the voice again; it was a young voice, a kid's.

"Show yourself!" Lucas and Sampson called together.

A dark figure appeared above, and actually jumped down from the aerial Digimon, only to float down and land softly. When he stood up he showed he was only a little taller than Lucas, and only a little older. He had short, spikey black hair, a blank, expressionless face, and cold violet eyes. He wore an outfit consisting of a black long-sleeved shirt and pants, and round navy blue pauldrons, breastplate, vambraces, sabatons and some kind of groin guard. A navy blue cape fluttered down his back and, most striking of all, there was a red symbol on his chest shaped like a triangle with a smaller triangle at each corner.

"Is that what I think it is!?" Veemon asked with sudden fear.

"The Digital Hazard," Sampson replied, "Who are you kid?"

"That's awfully rude… to the person who has your worthless companions hostage. To answer your question though; I am the Digimon Harbinger," the boy replied, his voice lacking any emotion.

"Are you responsible for those Black Shards?" Lucas asked angrily.

"Maybe I am," the Harbinger replied, "What does it matter to you child?"

"Child!? You're like, a year older than me! And let their Digimon go, they didn't do anything!"

"They've been doing things; sniffing around, investigating my work, and making themselves available to their old human friends. I can't have you Digi-destined getting any more allies."

"Kura?" said a babyish, but oddly twisted, voice from a cycloptic blob that Lucas only just noticed.

"That's a Kuramon," said Yoshi.

"Don't mind him, he's harmless. Now… I believe you want me to let your friends go. And I will do so, on one condition; give up your digivices."

"What!?" Lucas yelled.

"Give up your digivices and you may have your friends back."

"While you're left to keep hurting Digimon with those Shards?" Lucas asked.

"They'll still be alive, unlike your friends. So what'll it be?"

Lucas squirmed on the spot. He couldn't have Veemon digivolve, the Harbinger would be expecting that. He couldn't betray the entire Digital World for his friends, but he couldn't betray his friends. Then he had an idea. "Alright, I'll give up my digivice," Lucas said, handing it to Veemon, "There. Everyone, give up your digivices."

There was a rustle as everyone simply swapped digivices, and Lucas thought he could see a slight hint of annoyance on the Harbinger's face. "Amusing, but not what I meant," the boy said, "Give them to me."

"That wasn't the deal."

"You're in no position to be mocking me or defining the terms of our agreement," the Harbinger replied, focusing angrily on Lucas.

"But I don't have mine, Veemon's over there," replied Lucas cheekily, pointing to Veemon who'd run towards the train tracks, while pressing the Defense App on the D-Phone.

"I can catch a rookie Digimon with ease," the Harbinger said, moving towards Veemon, but did so just as a beam of energy shot by him and into Lucas' hand.

Immediately Lucas hurled the boomerang up at the Airdramon and saw, to his joy that it was able to reach the ropes and cut them. "Catch them!" he called to the adults.

They fanned out, trying to get under their falling Digimon, while Lucas caught his weapon and raced after the Digimon Harbinger. "Veemon! Throw it here," he called.

"You got it Lucas," the Digimon said, throwing the D-Phone towards his partner, who caught it and turned around to face the Harbinger.

"How now?"

"Well done, you got out of my trap. But if you will not respond to goodwill, then I will just have to destroy you," the Harbinger said, jumping up through the air and landing on one of the Airdramon, "You two, stay behind and deal with the rabble," he ordered, before flying off.

"I think I hate that guy," Lucas spat, though he was glad to see the adults catch their Digimon, but then watched with anger as the Airdramon began to pursue them. "I think we know what to do here," he said, his hand flaring with red-orange energy, "Digi-Armour Energize!"

The moment Flamedramon was finished digivolving her shot into the air towards the Airdramon, while Lucas rushed to meet up with the DATS team. "Are your Digimon okay?" he asked.

"We're fine," said the ferret looking one.

"Interesting tactic back there," Sampson said, "Judging by your general style would I be correct in saying it was a gamble?"

"Yeah," Lucas affirmed, "I was hoping being literal would tick him off just enough that I could slip something by him."

"You mean you made most of that plan up as you went?" Yushima asked.

"Yup."

"I've changed my mind," Yushima said to Sampson, "He's like a mix of you and Marcus. Until now I would've thought only Marcus could pull off something like that and make it succeed."

"Anyways I have to get back out there," Lucas said, turning on his heel and running back towards where Flamedramon was fighting the Airdramon. 'If only I could fly too,' he thought, jumping up the tallest tree he could find.

"Flamedramon!" he called.

"Sup!?"

"Try to get a piece of one of the shards."

"I'll try, they look pretty wedged in there though."

"Then just leave it to me!"

He waited while Flamedramon fought both Airdramon, having some difficulty keeping up with two of the Digimon. They fought using air attacks, mainly 'spinning needle' in which they spat forth jets of pressurized air that acted like spears, and 'Wing Cutter' which created twin swathes of pressurized air that acted like blades. It was one of the latter from both Airdramon that struck Flamedramon and sent him hurtling into the ground. "Flamedramon!" Lucas cried, only to see his Digimon quickly recover and shoot into the sky again.

"Fire rocket!" Flamedramon cried, shooting right into the body of one of the Airdramon and sending it hurtling towards the tree where Lucas was.

'I see what you did there Flamedramon,' Lucas thought as he hopped onto the Digimon's back.

He quickly made his way to its head and found the Black Shard. He grabbed it and pulled with all his strength… only for it to remain firmly in place. Airdramon had felt his presence though, and promptly began trying to shake him off. "Boomerang Strike!" Lucas cried, jumping back and hurling his weapon at the Black Shard.

The shard cracked a little under his boomerang, but remained as firmly wedged in as ever. Lucas was ready to try again, but Airdramon made a sharp turn as it tried to shake him off, so he gripped onto its hair and held firm even as it flipped over. "You're not getting rid of me snake-face!" he yelled. "How ya doin' Flamedramon!?" he called.

He looked around to see Flamedramon hurl fireballs from his Flame Fist at the Black Shard on the other Airdramon, which shattered and evaporated and left one very confused Airdramon behind. "Doin' just fine buddy. Need a hand?"

"Maybe," replied Lucas as the Airdramon righted itself. "Boomerang Strike!" he cried again, hurling the weapon at the Black Shard.

The shard fractured even more, but Lucas still wasn't able to get the thing to budge. He attacked one last time, putting all his effort into it, and watched as the cracks spread across the shard entirely. It was just about to evaporate, and that's when he dove in and snatched a tiny piece of rubble before the rest vanished into dust. "I got a piece!" Lucas cried, only to see the tiny fragment vanish into dust as well, causing him to punch the ground in anger, forgetting for a moment that 'the ground' was an Airdramon. "Oh, sorry about that," he apologized, "Mind bringing me to the ground?"

"Sure thing, but you have to kiss my head better," the Airdramon replied jokingly.

A short time later Lucas and Veemon had joined up with the group while the Airdramon flew off. "I never thought I'd see a Digi-destined, let alone see one fight," Kudamon said from around Sampson's neck. "And I haven't seen an Armour Digivolution in centuries."

"Are you centuries old Veemon?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know, I was sleeping."

"Either way I wasn't able to get a piece of a Black Shard," Lucas pouted.

"But now we have a clear ID of our enemy, so we might be able to track him," said Sampson.

"Well then let's track him!" replied Lucas, running off to follow the railway.

He didn't get too far though, as Sampson immediately grabbed his arms to stop him. "Not today soldier. This is what I mean by you being reckless."

"I'm stronger than you," said Lucas with a boastful edge, "Now let me go, you're slowing me down."

He glad to see his assertion of being stronger than Sampson was true, as he began to pull the man along and worked to throw off his grip. "That may be the case, but you can't go rushing blindly into something like this. You wanted the help and advice of DATS, and here it is; take a moment to stop and think."

"What would it be like for your parents if something happened to you?" Yushima asked, "Or what about your friends? Or Keenan?"

This worked better than Sampson's tactic, and Lucas stopped dead in his tracks while Yushima continued, "You know about how he lost his adoptive mom when he was really young, how would it be for him if he lost you too because you did something stupid."

Lucas remembered the other night when Keenan had related his own past to him and how he promised that Keenan wouldn't lose him. "You're right," he admitted with a sigh and returned to the portal. "At least I know there's a train now. I want to travel to more of the Digital World than just this forest. Besides we were only here for like, forty minutes today."

"But Lucas, didn't Keenan say he had something to show us?" Veemon asked.

"Aw crap, you're right!" Lucas cried, "Come on let's go!"

He ran up the hill to the portal and in seconds the entire group was sucked through, and moments later found themselves in a pile in Lucas' living room. "Oh yeah, this part," groaned Lucas as they all got to their feet.

"Oh sweetie, you're back," Mrs. Uchida said from the hall, "Your computer just started ringing and I was going to go turn it off."

"That'll be Keenan," said Lucas.

The small group rushed up the stairs and piled into Lucas' room, where he quickly answered the VidChat. "Hey Keenan!" Lucas said cheerily.

"Woah! You got them all there?" asked Keenan. "And the Digimon too!? You must've just got back."

"Yeah we did."

"Hello Keenan," said Lalamon cheerily, "Is Falcomon there?"

"I'm always here," said Falcomon, pushing himself on screen, "Keenan just has a habit of hogging the camera."

"And Kudamon, nice to see you back in place," Keenan added.

"Indeed. I never have found quite as good a place to rest as Sampson's shoulders."

"They didn't feel right without you Kudamon," replied Sampson.

"So Keenan, what was it you want to show me? Were you able to make your plan a success?"

"I was. I'm adding him to the chat now."

Another video appeared in the chat area, this one showing a young man who couldn't have been older than nineteen, with neat blond hair, fair skin and glasses. "Thomas!" Yoshi cried.

"Hello Yoshi, hello Commander."

"Just Sampson now," the man corrected.

"Wow Keenan, you managed to reach Dr. Norstein?" Lucas asked.

"What're big brothers for?"

"Eating the last of the brownies when I invite him over," replied Lucas cheekily.

"And you must be Lucas," Dr. Norstein said.

"That's me! It's a shame my friend Ayaka couldn't be here for this, she's a huge fan of yours."

"Glad to hear it. Keenan got me caught up on most of the details, and it's nice to see the old gang again. Kudamon, Lalamon," Dr. Norstein added, while the other Digimon besides Veemon had to retire to their digivices so that everyone would fit into Lucas' room.

"And I'm Veemon," piped up the blue dragon, "Nice to meet'cha Dr. Nose-train."

"It's Norstein."

"Oh."

"I know there's a more urgent reason for calling me, but I want to know… you haven't seen Gaomon yet have you?"

"I'm afraid not," replied Lucas, "We met a kid calling himself the Digimon Harbinger though, he's been using these Black Shards to make Digimon go berserk. He also tried to get us to surrender by holding all the DATS Digimon hostage."

"Then Gaomon could be in trouble," Dr. Norstein said.

"I wanted numbers. I got into contact with the DATS people because you're the only ones who might be able to create a resistance to the Black Shards."

"Because the prevent digivolution, that part Keenan told me. That's quite a powerful object if it can disrupt the DNA Charge," Dr. Norstein mused.

"But even if we can get around the Black Shards, how do we stop the Digimon Harbinger himself?" Yoshi asked, "He's a human, and not only is he human, but he's a kid."

"And worse, what is he planning?" Sampson added, "A harbinger is a herald, someone who paves the way for something else. He may be a kid, but he's extremely intelligent and cunning and we shouldn't underestimate him."

"Agreed," Yushima and Dr. Norstein said.

"Don't underestimate my little brother and his friends either," Keenan chimed in, "They make a great team with their Digimon."

"I never did," Yoshi replied, "He has that same look in his eyes that you did Keenan. Though we probably also shouldn't underestimate our chief. To get off early today we all have to do a double shift tomorrow, so we should get going."

"Yes, I should probably get home too," Yushima added, "My best luck with fishing always comes in the morning."

The adults began to file out of his room, saying good night to Dr. Norstein and Keenan. As Lucas looked at his D-Phone though he remembered Kudamon mentioning seeing Armour Digivolving, and that gave him an idea. "Um, Officer Sampson, can you stay for just one second?" he asked.

"Perhaps. Why?"

"I want to ask Kudamon something."

"Ask and I will answer as best I can," the small Digimon said.

"I remembered what you said about seeing Armour Digivolving, so that means you're old right?"

"You could put it that way, yes."

"So then how much do you know about D-Phones?"

"I know that they were believed to be a myth; crafted by the four Ancient Lords of the Digital World, the ones who watched over it before Yggdrasil took more direct control."

"Yeah, the Four Sovereigns," said Veemon, "They were the ones who put me to sleep."

"Then you are quite old, because that would have to be over a thousand years ago, in the Digital World anyways. But back to the topic at hand, even we Royal Knights only ever heard stories of the D-Phone."

"Dang. I've been wanting to find a way to control the portal destination, but I can't figure out how to do it."

"My advice would be to not give up hope. They are extremely powerful devices, and already every story I've heard has proven true. If you and your friends work together, I'm sure you'll uncover all the D-Phone's secrets. And if you can't, then we'll be here to help."

"Alright. Thanks anyways Kudamon," replied Lucas, at which Sampson left.

"I have to go too," Dr. Norstein said, "See you. Nice to see you again Keenan."

Then it was just Lucas, Keenan and their Digimon. "I have to go soon too," Keenan said, "My parents are home and my sister's up, but I want to ask you to do me a favour in the Digital World."

"Sure Keenan, what is it?"

"When you three are able to go next, I want you to look for a guy named Cherrymon. With all of the commotion going on I want to know if he's okay."

"Why don't you come too?"

"I will if I can, but I'm going to be pretty busy over the next few days. I have three tests next week and dad promised to help me study."

"That sucks. We'll find him though, don't worry."

"Thanks Lucas. Night."

That left just Lucas and Veemon, who soon found themselves engrossed in Soldier's Duty again, and dinner of course, and for Lucas it was just a normal evening.

((()))

Meanwhile the Digimon Harbinger sat in the dimness of his command room, watching a Digi-Egg on the table in front of him. "Kura?" Kuramon squeaked.

"Patience Kuramon," the boy urged as the egg began to shiver and crack.

Then the egg hatched, and from it emerged a baby Digimon in the shape of a red ball with wing shaped protrusions and beady black eyes. "Jyari," it chirped

The Digimon Harbinger almost smiled, but still uttered his feelings in one word "Perfect."

**End Episode**


	4. Episode 4

**Episode 4**

"Lucas! Wake up!" Veemon shouted with annoyance.

"Veemon, it's Saturday," Lucas groaned, "Let me sleep."

It was only 8 AM according to his clock, but it didn't seem like Veemon was willing to relent. "Come on Lucas, how can you be so tired?"

"Because soccer practice went double the usual time yesterday."

"I was there too, and I'm wide awake."

"You were chilling in the D-Phone, not out on the field. Not to mention my new strength and speed has me suddenly being the favourite star player. I need to rest."

"But what about Cherrymon?" Veemon asked, "We promised Keenan."

"And I'll keep my promise, just let me sleep longer."

"But Lucas!"

"Shut up!" Lucas snapped, getting up and pushing Veemon to his bedroom door where he threw him out, "I told you I need sleep! Now beat it!"

Veemon got to his feet in time to see Lucas slam the door in his face. "Fine! I didn't sleep three thousand years to meet a kid who was gonna sleep a thousand more!"

The Digimon stormed off and was almost out the door when he remembered that he couldn't walk around freely in the human world. But remembering why he was there was enough to make him not care and he opened the door and left anyways. It was early enough that there weren't too many people around anyways. It didn't stop him from drawing stares from people at a bus stop though. "What're you staring at!?" Veemon snapped, "Haven't you ever seen a Digimon before?"

The people at the bus stop all turned back to their phones and discussions while Veemon went on his way. He wasn't even really sure where he was going. So far all he'd seen of the Human World was Lucas' house and a little background whenever Lucas had his D-Phone out. He didn't know where any of Lucas' friends lived, and he couldn't get back to the Digital World without Lucas and his D-Phone. "I don't need a lazy human like that anyways," Veemon said to himself. "Of course I might need _a_ human to tell me where I am," he added, looking around the unfamiliar streets.

Veemon had been walking and walking without looking where he was going, and now he not only had no idea where he was, but he also had no idea how to get back. Not really having any other options he just kept walking. As he walked he tried to get the attention of some of the humans he saw, but each time he tried they only ignored him and either sped up or shied away nervously.

"Um, excuse me," he said to a man chatting on his smartphone, "Could I just ask you something real quick."

"What do you want!?" the man asked rudely, moving the phone away from his ear.

"I was just wondering if you knew where some people named the Kriers live."

"No, now beat it. I don't want nuthin' to do with you digifreaks," the man replied, returning to his conversation only to hear silence.

Veemon sighed and kept walking only for the man to run back and stand in front of him, looking extremely angry. "Alright digithing, what the heck did you do to my phone!?" he yelled.

"What? Nothing," Veemon answered truthfully.

"Like I'm gonna believe that. Look at it! All the apps, all the contacts, gone!" the man yelled, showing him the phone, "So what'd you do!?"

"Look pal I told you I didn't do anything," defended Veemon, backing away.

"Was trying to kill us all five years ago not enough? You just had to come back and cause more trouble!"

"Seriously dude, I didn't do anything."

Veemon's defense was met with being kicked in the gut by the man who promptly stormed off while trying to fix the damage. Veemon on the other hand remained crouched on the ground and clutching his stomach. He almost wanted to throw up from the pain, but he didn't, and after a few second he was feeling better, at which point he got to his feet and looked around for someone else who might help. What he didn't see was an orange eye that appeared for a very brief second on the screen of a vending machine nearby.

"What's going on!?" someone yelled as every can of soda in the machine fell into the pickup tray, but Veemon was too depressed to care.

"Maybe I shouldn't have been so rushy with Lucas," he said with a sigh. "But he shouldn't have yelled at me! So it's still his fault."

Still trying to figure out where he was he tried to go into a store, only to be kicked out and yelled at for ruining the cash register. Then he got yelled at by someone in a front office when her computer crashed shortly after he came in. He tried a mini-mart and ended up having a customer yell at him when their strawberry milk ended up costing a million yen because the cash register bugged out. Someone even stopped their car and yelled at him for ruining their GPS. He wasn't even sure what that was!

"Why does this keep happening to me?" he asked himself glumly.

Eventually he found himself in a skatepark where he curled up against the back of half-pipe and sighed sadly. "Why don't humans like Digimon?" he asked himself, "I didn't have anything to do with five years ago, I was asleep. I thought it was that Kurada guy who did all that anyways."

"That may be," said a strong, but kind male voice, "But hard feelings don't die easy."

The owner of the voice appeared from around the corner and revealed himself as a lean, but strong looking man with brown hair and eyes that Veemon had seen one place before. "You wouldn't happen to be Kristy's dad would you?" he asked bluntly.

"That's me, Spencer Damon. It's a pleasure to meet you Veemon, Kristy's told me a lot about you."

"Don't get close to me, your phone will end up getting wiped too."

"I don't mind, I have everything saved in a back-up," Spencer replied.

"Alright. What are you doing out here so early anyways?" asked Veemon as Spencer sat down beside him.

"I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be at home with Lucas?"

"We had a fight and he kicked me out," said Veemon, and quickly going on to explain the situation in more detail.

"I see," Spencer said after Veemon finished, "That reminds me of something Kristy told me. Her brother and his Digimon had a similar fight once."

"Yeah? How'd it turn out?"

"They worked it out. You can't stay mad at your friends forever."

"I guess not. I can't go back now though, I don't know how. Even if I did, I'm not sure I want to right now. I don't want to end up messing up their computers. Lucas will get mad at me again if that happens."

"Do you think Lucas would jump to conclusions as quickly as that?"

"I don't know. I don't even think I'm the one causing it. But it keeps happening near me, so what else could it be?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure we could find out. Why don't you come back to my place and I'll look into it?"

"Sure, why not. It's better than sitting out here in the dirt."

"Alright then," replied Spencer, leading the way. "Oh and to answer your question; I was out for a morning walk when I spotted you wandering around in plain view and getting picked on by everyone."

"But they've seen Digimon before. They saw Falcomon and his friends beat Belphemon and Yggdrasil, they must know us Digimon are friends."

"Not everyone saw it. People are as complex as Digimon, and it's not easy to get them to accept something as radically new as one," Spencer explained, "Misunderstandings and confusion ignited that conflict in the first place. Some humans now try to deny it ever happened, while most just want to forget it. Seeing a Digimon wandering around re-ignites the memories of five years ago, and they respond to the memories by responding to you. Most people's memories are not positive, and so they don't behave positively to you."

"That's really sad," said Veemon, "We should be able to all get along."

"That was my view, and it still is. It's the view of the whole DATS squad. But I'm afraid that, for the moment, the feelings are still too raw. It's a bit too soon for us to put those events behind us."

"Yeah, I found that out. The Digimon don't seem to have a problem with humans though."

"It might be due to them recognizing the Digi-destined. If humans without digivices went to the Digital World I'm not sure they'd be greeted just as coldly as you were here. Both sides made a big step to tolerance, but it's an even bigger step to acceptance."

"Oh," replied Veemon.

Once again Veemon found himself missing Lucas and, somewhat to his surprise, the D-Phone as well. It was cramped, but at least when he was in it he was with his friend all the time. Being out here in the human world wasn't as easy as he'd thought it would be. If Spencer hadn't found him then he wasn't sure what he would've done. With these thoughts he walked on, once again missing the orange eye that appeared on a vending machine's screen, then appearing briefly on someone's phone.

A short time later Veemon followed Spencer into his home and, at his indication, took a seat on a couch. According to the clock it was about 10 now, which Veemon hoped meant Lucas was awake. But Kristy was still asleep according to Spencer, though he also made a point of saying teenage girls slept a lot. Sarah, meanwhile, had just woken up and was making breakfast for herself and her husband. "Hello there, I'm Mrs. Damon," she said upon seeing Veemon.

"Hey," replied Veemon, lacking his usual enthusiasm.

"I found him sulking in the skatepark," Spencer explained to his wife quietly, "It seems he and his partner had a fight. Sound familiar?"

"Definitely. I'll make extra," Sarah replied, hurrying back to the kitchen.

((()))

Lucas stretched and yawned as he sat up in bed. He checked his clock to see it was shortly after ten. He was feeling much better now, and he quickly showered and got dressed. "Hey Veemon!" he called, heading downstairs, "I'm awake now!"

There was no response except the quiet blaring of the TV that indicated his dad trying to watch some kind of really sappy anime in secret; and failing miserably. He saw his mom was in the kitchen and looking at her laptop, watching some kind of cooking guide and mumbling about Mrs. Damon. "I'll get you this year Sarah, and your little stove too," she muttered devilishly.

"Hey mom?" Lucas said.

"Huh? Oh, yes dear?" Mrs. Uchida replied, sounding suddenly much sweeter.

"Have you seen Veemon?"

"No honey I haven't. I heard you yelling at him earlier though, and I think the door might have opened."

"He left!?" cried Lucas, aghast. "I know I told him to get lost, but I didn't want him to go."

He quickly dashed to the door to get his shoes on, feeling guilty already. "Where're you going!?" his dad called.

"To find Veemon!"

Lucas sped out the door and looked around; trying to figure out which way his friend had gone. "Man, I was just tired and cranky," he muttered, "I didn't mean it."

He looked around for someone he could ask and saw one man who was looking grumpily at his phone walking towards the bus stop. "Um, excuse me," Lucas said, "I was just wondering if you saw a guy who looked, um, blue."

"Darn right I saw someone blue," the man snapped, "Some digifreak who ruined my phone."

"You mean a Digimon?" Lucas asked, "What did he do to your phone?"

"Wiped it clean without touching it," yelled the man, "Everything on it is gone."

"Veemon wouldn't do that," replied Lucas strongly, "I don't think he _can_ do that."

"I don't care what you said. Those digifreaks are all bad news."

"Well where were you when this happened?" Lucas pressed

The man pointed down a street and mentioned a corner store that Lucas knew about, leading him to run off in the direction indicated. He had no idea what could happen to a Digimon wandering around Tokyo, but he hoped nothing too bad. 'Please be okay Veemon.'

When he got near the corner store he saw a vending machine that looked like it had dumped all its contents, and the screen just read straight zeroes. "That's not right," he muttered, stepping into the store.

"Sorry kid, I'm closed," the man at the cash register said.

"But it's the middle of the day."

"I know, but one of those monsters from five years ago popped up in my store and broke my cash register," the man explained, sounding huffy.

"Was he blue?"

"As a matter of fact yes."

"Then he didn't break your cash register."

"And how would you know? You were too young to remember five years ago when those monsters came here and rampaged through our city. They're all trouble, one way or another."

"No! Veemon's my friend, and I know he wouldn't do anything like that."

"Whatever kid, just get out. I'm closed."

"Do you at least know where he went?"

"Well my girlfriend works at an office a block away, and she called me to say that she saw some blue monster that broke her computer, so I'd say check there."

Lucas thanked the man, despite his rudeness about Veemon, and ran off down the street. His inquiry at the office was met with a similar response; a blue Digimon had appeared and supposedly broken the computers without touching them. This time, however, he began to hear a beeping from his D-Phone. Upon taking it out he discovered a new app in the hidden screen, Digimon Detector. Opening it up he saw a list of Digimon he'd seen so far; including his own. "Digimon presence detected, identifying species," he read from a crawl at the bottom of the screen. "But Veemon's not here," he muttered.

A second later the crawl stopped and instead read; 'Unable to identify, presence only residual.' Lucas tapped the menu and then an option to 'Identify Residual Presence'. A couple seconds later it returned with another message, this one stating 'Insufficient data, please locate additional information.'

Lucas uttered a quick good-bye to the lady in the office and ran out the door. Once outside he called Ayaka and was glad that she picked up. "Hey Lucas, what's up?" she asked.

"I know you probably haven't had your coffee," Lucas began, "But something's going on. Veemon went wandering around and-"

"He what!? Lucas! How could you let him do that?"

"We got in a fight, it's a long story."

"He tried to wake you up didn't he?" Ayaka asked knowingly.

"Yes," admitted Lucas after a slight hesitation, "That's not why I'm calling though. I've been following Veemon's trail and it seems like everywhere he's been some kind of electronic has ended up malfunctioning and just now the D-Phone brought up a new app that detects Digimon and it said there was a 'residual presence' but needed more information."

"Maybe it's just responding to Veemon?"

"I don't know, but I want you to try and work your computer magic and see if there's some link between all the electronics."

"Got'cha, I'll see if I can find anything. And Lucas… I hope you and Veemon make up."

"We will if I can find him. Bye."

He hung up and dashed off, hoping to find another lead. More than that though, Lucas hoped that Veemon really wasn't the cause of the electronics malfunctions, but he was sure he wasn't. "Someone's framing him, I know it," Lucas told himself, and continued searching.

((()))

"So this Marcus guy fought with Agumon once over fried eggs?" Veemon asked.

"Yes," Sarah said, "It started with the food, and it escalated. I don't think this is quite as bad as that; you just got Lucas up on the wrong side of the bed."

"I know, but I still feel bad about it," said Veemon, "And I'm still angry that he yelled at me."

"You know maybe I should call and ask if he's up yet," said Spencer.

"How do you like my attempt at American pancakes by the way?" Sarah asked, "I thought it would be nice to try something a little different."

"They're great!" said Veemon, almost as cheery as his usual self. "I see why Lucas' mom is jealous."

"Why thank you," Mrs. Damon replied, a hint of pride in her voice, "It's been so long since I've had someone with such a big appetite in the house."

"Veemon," Spencer began, appearing back the room, "I just got off the phone with Mr. Uchida and he says Lucas left to look for you about twenty minutes ago."

"Well then let's call his phone," Veemon suggested.

"Do you know his number?"

"Uhh… no," Veemon replied sheepishly, "Oh! But Kristy would!"

"I don't feel right about waking her," Sarah said, "Plus she gets in a bad mood when woken up."

"Like Lucas?" asked Veemon.

"No, she's not cranky. She's more… whiny."

"Oh."

"She cheers up quickly," said Spencer, "I'll go wake her."

Veemon, feeling curious, followed. He got upstairs in time to see Mr. Damon enter the room that belonged to Kristy and, a few moments later he heard her crying and whining like someone half her age, or half Lucas' age for that matter. "Daddy I just wanna sleep!" she whined, sounding rather similar to Lucas.

"Kristy, it's Veemon," Spencer said, not sounding deterred by his daughter's mood in the slightest.

Almost instantly Kristy's mood improved, "What about him?" she asked, much more calmly than before.

"He's here. He and Lucas had a fight and now Lucas is looking for him. We just wanted to ask you what his cellphone number is."

"Oh," replied Kristy, quickly jotting it down, "I'm sorry I got upset daddy."

"Not a problem sweetie, you can go back to sleep now if you want," Spencer replied, leaving the room and closing the door softly behind him. "You see Veemon, the way people behave when woken up isn't really reflective of their usual selves."

"Yeah I know that now. Let's call Lucas so I can go home!"

Spencer promptly called the number he'd gotten from Kristy and, after a couple rings, it was picked up.

((()))

Lucas was at the skatepark when he heard his phone ringing, and he quickly answered it, hoping it was something relating to Veemon. "Hello?" he said once he'd answered.

"Hello Lucas," said a voice he recognized. "This is-"

"Mr. Damon!" Lucas cried with surprise, interrupting the man, "Hey is Veemon there?"

"As a mat… he…" went the voice on the other end, quickly fading into a dial tone.

"Mr. Damon!?" cried Lucas again, "Dang it."

Checking his phone's settings though he could see its battery was fine, in fact since its change into a D-Phone it never seemed to even run low on battery power. Lucas was within range of a signal too, easily. Yet somehow he was unable to get through to the Damons, even when he tried calling the number back. He could call Kenji just fine, and the rest of his friends. When he tried to call Kristy's cellphone he got a similar reaction though; a dial-tone that indicated an error of some kind.

"I'll just head over to Kristy's anyways," he said, hanging up the phone, "It's the only lead I have."

He rounded the corner of the half-pipe only to run head long into one of the skateboarders and end up on the ground. "Hey! Watch where you're go- Keenan!" he cried with surprise.

"Hey Lucas," replied Keenan, "You're sure in a hurry, but what else is new?"

"Sorry Keenan I can't chat, something's wrong at Kristy's."

"What!? How do you know?"

"Because I got a call from her dad, but it just cut out halfway through, like the cord was pulled."

"Maybe it was."

"No, because I can't get through to any of the phones, it's like something's blocking them," explained Lucas.

His D-Phone vibrated suddenly, the sign that he'd gotten a text message. When he opened up the message he saw it appeared to be from Kristy's phone number. "Hello Lucas I'm sending a gift to Veemon. I hope he likes it. Signed Kuramon," Lucas read.

"Kuramon? They're usually just living cameras," Keenan muttered.

"One was working for the Digimon Harbinger, it must've been this one. Come on!"

Keenan didn't need any more encouragement than the possibility of Kristy being in trouble and raced after his brother. Lucas for his part was moving as quickly as he could, and was already tearing ahead of Keenan. "And this all started because I was a grouch this morning," Lucas murmured to himself.

Meanwhile the Damons were worriedly noticing that their phones had failed. Not just their phones either, but their computers and television too. "See I said this would happen," Veemon moaned as he curled up on the couch, "I keep breaking things electronic just by being around."

"Veemon, I really don't believe that you're the cause of this," said Spencer, "I've never known a Digimon whose very presence could shut down electronics. Not even Yggdrasil himself could do that."

"Then what else could it be?" Veemon asked.

"There's something in here," replied Spencer, "Something that's been following you all morning and perhaps trying to frame you."

As if in response to this the printer attached to Spencer's computer suddenly began to work. It was as if a ghost had activated it, as nobody had been anywhere near the computer, which was completely frozen. When it was done Spencer walked over to pick up the paper that now bore a message and read it out loud; "Very clever Papa Damon. While I feast on your computer data, have fun with this present. Kuramon."

"Kuramon!? That was the Digimon Harbinger's Digimon," cried Veemon, "But how could it have gotten inside the computers? And what's this 'present'?"

"I don't know," Spencer said, then added as the computer began to glow "But I think we're about to find out."

Veemon watched as the computer glowed bright and then a bolt of light shot out of it and materialized into a Digimon. This one looked like a metal blue ball with a mischievous face, arms, legs and a brass lightning bolt on its head. "That's Thundermon," Spencer said.

A second later another two Digimon appeared, these ones the same species and looking like clunky, brown robots. However despite their clunky design they were clearly very heavily built and strong defensively. "And those are Guardromon!" cried Veemon.

"Kristy! Biyomon! We need your help!" cried Spencer, just as Kristy actually arrived.

"Dad, what's going on!?" she asked.

"These Digimon just came through the computer."

"Vee Headbutt!" Veemon cried, his head glowing blue as he launched himself into one of the Guardromon.

The Guardromon barely even flinched, while Veemon stumbled back feeling dizzy. "Spiral Twister!" Biyomon cried, creating a spiral of green flame aimed at Thundermon, who quickly dodged it.

"Get out of the house," Veemon told the humans, "I'm sorry if it gets damaged."

"I'm not going anywhere," replied Kristy, "But he's right dad, you get mom to safety."

"Already on it," Spencer said, opening the door and leading his wife out and a distance down the street.

"DNA Charge!" Kristy cried, her hand glowing with energy… only to fizzle out a second later. "What!? No! Does that mean…"

"Black Shards!" Biyomon yelled, "I can see them!"

Veemon looked more closely as Thundermon floated overhead and spotted a black spike sticking out of his back. He only saw it for a moment though, as it cried out "Thunder Ball" and sent forth several spheres of electricity that struck him hard and sent him hurtling into the wall.

"Veemon!" cried Kristy.

"Spiral Twister!" Biyomon called out, the spiral of green flame striking the Guardromon this time, but being just as effective as Veemon's attacks.

"Guardian Barrage," the robotic Digimon said, firing a pair of missiles each from launchers that emerged from their arms.

The missiles struck Biyomon hard, and exploded, hurling him to the floor where he lay still in pain. "Owch."

'This is my fault,' Veemon thought, 'If I hadn't been so impatient this morning then Kuramon wouldn't have followed me and attacked the Damons.'

"I'm sorry Biyomon," he said, "I'm sorry Kristy. Kuramon was following me, and now I've put you all in danger."

"Don't be stupid," said a voice he was never gladder to hear, followed by a boomerang that whizzed through and struck Thundermon, sending him tumbling through the air and crashing into one of the Guardromon and leaving both of them stunned.

Veemon looked up to the door and saw, to his joy, Lucas standing there with his D-Phone and catching his boomerang. "Lucas!"

"Come one Veemon," Lucas said, relieved to see his friend was at least alive, if slightly battered, "This isn't your fault. It's Kuramon's. You should've been more patient with me; I should've been less cranky with you. But what happens happens, you had no way of knowing it would lead to this. The only one who knew it would lead to this, and who made it happen, was Kuramon."

"Yeah… yeah you're right!" Veemon replied, getting to his feet.

"And Veemon, I'm sorry for getting angry. Now let's trash these guys."

"Right!"

"Digi-Armour Energize!" Lucas cried.

A quick digivolution later Flamedramon stood beside Lucas as Thundermon and Guardromon immediately resumed their attack. "Thunder Ball!" shouted Thundermon.

"Guardian Barrage!" the Guardromon added.

"Boomerang Strike!" Lucas cried, hurling his boomerang at the Guardromon's missiles.

The missiles exploded, taking out a portion of the walls and furniture between them, while Lucas and Flamedramon just barely evaded the balls of electricity from Thundermon. "Kristy! Get out of here," Lucas said upon noticing his 'sister' was still there.

She nodded and made her way towards the back door. "Flame Fist!" cried Flamedramon, shooting balls of fire at the Guardromon.

Lucas was surprised to hear the cracking noise of the Black Shards. "They usually don't break that easily," Lucas muttered while Flamedramon turned his attention to Thundermon.

The Guardromon lowered their arms and looked rather uncertain as to what to do. Lucas took advantage of that opportunity to jump over their heads and land on the back of one, where he saw the black shard sticking into its body. He smacked it with his boomerang and saw it shatter completely, crumbling into dust. "So that's one down."

"Thunder Ball!" Thundermon cried.

Lucas turned just in time to see one of the balls to strike Flamedramon, and for another to hit him dead center and throw him into the wall. Flamedramon recovered first and dashed over to Lucas' side. "You okay?" he asked.

There was pain running through Lucas' body, but he could still stand and he could still fight. "Yeah I'm fine," he replied, "Take care of Thundermon."

Flamedramon sprang back into action, looking up to the hovering Thundermon and engulfed himself in flame. "Fire Rocket!" he cried, shooting at the metal Digimon and hurtling right into him, carrying him up through the roof and into the air.

Lucas meanwhile turned to the other Guardromon and shattered the black shard in it before dashing outside to check on his partner. When he did he looked up to see Thundermon hovering around looking dazed, but still apparently under the control of the black shard. "Get him now Flamedramon!" Lucas called out.

"Right!" Flamedramon replied from the roof, "Flame Fist!"

Fireballs launched towards the hovering, and dazed Thundermon and struck him perfectly. As the fire raced across him the black shard cracked and shattered, at which point the Digimon floated down to the roof and collapsed onto his butt. "And that," began Lucas.

"Is that," finished Flamedramon, landing beside him.

"As amazing as ever," said Kristy as the Damons hurried back to the pair, "Couldn't you two have gone a little easier on our house though?"

The Damon house looked broken even from the outside, a number of windows were shattered and there were holes in the walls as well, not to mention the notable one on the roof. "So that's Armour Digivolving," Spencer muttered aloud, looking over Flamedramon, "I heard the stories, but I'd never seen it. It seems just when you think you understand the Digital World, something new pops up."

"What about Kuramon!?" gasped Lucas, hurrying back into the house.

The computer had been left notably unharmed, likely because Kuramon didn't want its roost to be damaged. However Lucas did notice that it seemed to be working perfectly fine now, though it appeared to have had its hard drive wiped clean. "It got away," Flamedramon said, causing Lucas to stamp his foot in frustration.

"Calm down Lucas," Kristy said, walking up beside him, "It's just data, we can re-install everything. And I'm sure daddy can figure out a way to keep Kuramon out."

"I asked Ayaka to look into it too, but it still makes me mad that the culprit got away."

He looked around at the two Guardromon who seemed to have shut down upon defeat, as well as Thundermon who was now walking into the house while Flamedramon de-digivolved. "So how do we get these guys back home?" Veemon asked.

"No idea, you don't have any ideas do you?" Lucas asked Thundermon.

"Nope, sorry. One moment I was in Chromopolis, next I'm on your roof," Thundermon said.

"Chromopolis?" asked Lucas.

"It's the capital of the Metal Empire," explained Biyomon quickly, "If a Digimon's made of metal in any way then chances are it's from the Metal Empire."

"This would be where knowing how to change the other end of the portal would be helpful," muttered Lucas.

"Tell you what," Spencer said, "Until we can figure it out, these three can stay in the old DATS HQ, it's quite similar to the Metal Empire."

"That sounds like a good idea," replied Lucas.

"I'll take it," Thundermon agreed, "It can't be as grand as Chromopolis, but it'll have to do."

"Great! Then that's settled," said Lucas triumphantly, then he turned to Veemon, "And Veemon, I'm sorry again for getting angry. I probably should've warned you about my cranky wake-up."

"And I'm sorry for being too pushy," Veemon replied, "Partners?" he asked, holding out his fist.

"Nah, not just partners. Friends," replied Lucas, the two bumping fists strongly.

"Lucas!" yelled a voice that the boy recognized.

He turned to see Keenan standing in the doorway, looking angry and upset. "Oh yeah I forgot about Keenan," said Lucas sheepishly.

"What do you mean you forgot about me!?" yelled Keenan, advancing on Lucas.

"Listen Keenan, things were getting bad, so I had to get here fast."

"Keenan calm down," Falcomon pleaded.

"Guess who's at my house?" Keenan asked, "My aunt. Why don't you come over?"

"No! No way," replied Lucas fearfully.

"Oh you're coming, whether you want to or not."

Lucas took off, while Keenan followed closely after, yelling at him to hold still. All the while everyone else simply laughed at Lucas' potential misfortune.

An hour and a half later saw Lucas in Keenan's house, being hugged tightly by a large, kindly, but rather energetic woman. "Isn't he just the cutest little boy you've ever seen!?" the woman asked, hugging Lucas so tight he felt suffocated.

Then just when he thought it was over she would pinch his cheek and let him say two words before hugging him again, all the while the Kriers, the Damons and the Digimon laughed.

*there'd be a zoom out thing here*

**End Episode**


	5. Episode 5

**Episode 5**

It was about noon on Sunday and Lucas stood in the middle of the Crier's living room. Their house was larger than his, and they had the space he'd been wanting. Keenan's aunt had gone home, for which Lucas was thankful, and around him were both his friends; the Digidestined, his surrogate siblings; Keenan and Kristy, and the DATS Squad, with Dr. Norstein on VidChat. "Lucas, why did you bring us all here?" Kenji asked while Lucas and Veemon paced the middle of the room.

"So I bet you're all wondering why I brought you all here," Lucas began, making Kenji groan, "Well for two reasons. The first is this!"

Lucas pulled a string and suddenly a bucket of water dumped onto Keenan, after which Veemon grabbed a bag of flour the two had hidden and threw its contents all over the older boy. "_That_ was for siccing your aunt on me," said Lucas angrily.

"Oh," Keenan groaned, "I guess maybe that was a little much. But so is this!"

"No it's not. After what you put me through yesterday, we're about even. And while I'm at it, I'm sorry about leaving you behind."

"Right," groaned Keenan, "Mom will make you clean up the mess though."

"Yeah yeah," Lucas said, waving his hand, "To more serious matters."

"About time," Kenji muttered, while most of the DATS squad actually seemed amused.

"Both of our groups are guardians of the Digital World, even if the DATS people aren't officially an organization anymore, it's still their job to defend the Digital World, as much as it's ours."

"I've never seen Lucas act this mature before," Keenan whispered to Kristy.

"Except the DATS squad _can't_ help," Lucas said, words the hit every DATS agent like a brick, "Those Black Shards prevent all digivolution except armour. So the DATS team needs a way to counter them. So that's problem one."

"He didn't have to be so harsh," Lalamon whined.

"That's Lucas," Ayaka said, "He doesn't know when he's being rude. He doesn't mean it, don't worry."

"Next," Lucas began, "Keenan asked us to check up on his friend Cherrymon. Me and Veemon tried last night, but where the portal brought us was, according to an Elecmon we saw, about a two day's walk from where I wanted to be. Not only Cherrymon, but we need to return Thundermon and the Guardromon to the Metal Empire, which is on the complete opposite side of the Digital World from the Forest Kingdoms where we keep ending up. So more than ever we need to find a way to shift where the portal exit is."

"I can help with that," said Dr. Norstein, who'd been silent until now.

"There's a lot you could help with, but let me finish before you volunteer for tasks," said Lucas. "Third thing I want to look into; the Digimon Harbinger. Who is he? What does he want? How'd he make those Black Shards? I really don't like that guy. He just manipulates these Digimon and he doesn't seem to care about any of it; like it's just routine to him. I think the more we're able to control the portal locations, the more we'll be able to travel through the Digital World and the more we'll learn about him."

"Lucas this water and flour goo is really sticky," Keenan complained.

"Finally," Lucas continued, completely ignoring his brother, "Kuramon. It got into electronics and framed Veemon, then it was able to use a computer as a portal to summon black shard Digimon to attack us. It's just a Baby Digimon, but it's clearly very powerful. Not only could it get into electronics, but we saw it could also control them and erase all the data on them. Ayaka, this is where you come in."

"Huh? Oh! Yes," Ayaka stuttered, moving to join Lucas, with Hawkmon following. "I looked into the electronics that had been attacked and it seems all of them were in a condition similar to when attacked by a computer virus. In fact they were exactly the same. The only conclusion I have is that Kuramon _is_ a computer virus, or merged with one in some way."

"Kuramon are known for eating a lot," Keenan interjected, "Gotsumon said he'd heard from a Snimon who'd heard from a Tentomon that Kuramon could be made to eat data. Falcomon said it was nonsense, so I just went with that."

"I've actually heard of similar tales," Kudamon added, "I was always against the use of Kuramon swarms for recon, and it's beginning to look like my fears were justified."

"It's even more dangerous than an ordinary computer virus though," Ayaka said, "Think about it. It was able to get into vending machines and cash registers. Those devices aren't hooked up to the internet, meaning it must've jumped into the electrical grid."

"Keenan forwarded Ayaka's findings to me," Dr. Norstein said, "And I must say I was very impressed."

"R-really!?" Ayaka asked, blushing, "It wasn't much, just, you know, something."

"Based on that data, and a little search I did of my own, it seems Kuramon must enter the Human World through an internet connection, and then swing into the electrical grid via a computer."

"And it needs its roost to remain undamaged," Lucas added, "That's what I think anyways. It looked like they made an effort to not damage the computer. But this is where I want Dr. Norstein working."

"You want him to create some kind of defense against Kuramon," Sampson surmised.

"Yup. It's clear that the Digimon Harbinger, whoever he is, means to attack our world just as much as the Digital one. The harder we can make it for him, the better."

"Agreed," Dr. Norstein said, "I should be able to do that much."

"I can see about creating a resistance to the black shards," said Mr. Damon.

"I think that will have to be the responsibility of DATS overall," Sampson said, "But we'll need someone to look into the D-Phones."

"Actually I've been working on that," Ayaka interjected, "I've been studying them, with whatever help Hawkmon could lend."

"Find out anything?" Lucas asked.

"Well, they're digivices created by the Digimon Sovereigns according to our Digimon. They're extremely powerful and seem to be able to perform every single function of a smartphone. We know that part already. What I've found is the D-Phone seems very susceptible to voice commands, and as such my current theory is this; when you use the Portal App without any kind of command it takes you somewhere random. We need to figure out the voice commands that bring you to specified locations."

"Would it also be fair to postulate that each D-Phone is isomorphic?" Dr. Norstein asked.

"I was considering that possibility as well," agreed Ayaka.

"Um… what?" Lucas asked, sounding thoroughly confused.

"He's cute when he's clueless," Megumi said with a giggle.

"He's cute all the time," Miki replied, "But you're right, it jumps up a notch when he's confused like this."

"Stop making fun of me and explain what they said!" Lucas yelled with annoyance.

"Dr. Norstein was asking if it was a logical theory that a D-Phone only works for its owner," Ayaka explained.

"Oh… so you mean if I tried to use yours it wouldn't work?" Lucas asked.

"That's right," Ayaka replied.

"We can test that right now," he said, handing her his phone.

Like Ayaka had expected, she could use the normal functions fine, but was unable to access the hidden menu. She handed her own D-Phone to Lucas who had similar problems, and Kenji was unable to operate any D-Phone other than his own. "I guess that proves it," said Lucas, taking his own D-Phone back.

"Such powerful devices," Ayaka mused, "And not even Kudamon knows much about them. It's so fascinating."

"That's Ayaka," Kenji said, "Always wanting to no more."

"And getting angry at me when I don't," added Lucas with a sigh.

"You wouldn't have passed third grade if I didn't do that," Ayaka pointed out, "Or fourth."

"Now Ayaka, calm down," Hawkmon pleaded, though seeming to be ignored.

"So I redo a couple years, it's not biggie," replied Lucas.

"What!? It's a huge biggie! Don't you want to at least graduate with us? If you don't keep your grades up then that won't happen. And I can't hold your hand all the time."

"She sounds mad," Veemon whispered.

"But I like having your help," Lucas replied, "It's the only time I enjoy schoolwork. I'll never be able to figure it out on my own anyways."

"That's because you don't even try! And if you don't care if you fail, then does that mean you're saying my help is useless?"

"Uh oh," Lucas replied, shrinking fearfully behind Keenan, "Help me out Keenan."

"You dumped water and flour on me," Keenan replied bitterly, "You're on your own little bro."

The older boy promptly got to his feet and went off to the bathroom to wash off. Lucas was left with a very angry Ayaka bearing down on him, and the worst part was he had no idea why she was angry. "I still don't get it Ayaka, why're you so mad over me not sharing your love of knowledge," he asked, shrinking behind Kristy instead. "And I never said your help was useless."

"But you don't even bother trying! Why would you want to stay stupid!?"

"Hey! That's enough," said Kenji, stepping in. "Calm down Ayaka, you know Lucas doesn't always say what he means. And Lucas, don't take Ayaka for granted."

"There is an honest point," Yushima interjected, despite most of the adults having stopped paying attention to the kids' squabbling, "Never take your friends for granted. Keep that in mind Lucas."

"But I don't-" Lucas began, but couldn't honestly continue because he knew they were telling the truth. "I'm sorry Ayaka, I wasn't saying what I meant to."

Ayaka sighed. The sight of Lucas looking, and sounding, apologetic, was too much for her to stay mad. She could never stay mad with anyone very lost, least of all her friends. They meant more to her than anyone else save her family. And she had to agree with Megumi and Miki, Lucas definitely had a certain charm to him, and she knew she wasn't the only girl at school to see it. "Fine," she replied softly, "Come on; let's test my voice command theory."

"The squabbling is over Sampson," Kudamon said softly.

"I know, I was paying attention, just not interfering."

"Remember how much Marcus and Thomas bickered?" Yoshi asked.

"Squabbling is a part of friendship," Yushima said, "Every time it happens, as long as the friendship is true, then it will be strengthened. And I suspect there's more reason to this fight than young Ayaka is currently willing to admit; even to herself."

"Alright!" Lucas shouted, turning to the crowd. "DATS! I need you working on a resistance to the Black Shards."

"Yes sir!" Sampson replied with a smile.

"Race you to the base," Yoshi cried as she ran out the door.

"Spencer left shortly before the kids started fighting," chuckled Yushima while the DATS crew filtered out of the house.

"Dr. Norstein, begin working on the anti-Kuramon measure," Lucas commanded to the young scientist.

"Will do," Dr. Norstein replied, "And nice speaking to you Ayaka," he added before signing off.

"He said it was nice speaking to me," Ayaka swooned, making Lucas roll his eyes.

"What do you want us to do Lucas?" Kristy asked.

"I'll tell you when Keenan gets out here."

"Don't worry, he's coming," Falcomon said from near the bathroom.

Quite promptly Keenan appeared, not wearing a shirt and with a towel over one shoulder. The moment Kristy saw him a blush crept onto her cheeks. Keenan was tanned, and athletic, with every muscle toned and showing. He'd grown up a wild boy, and he continued to be active, and it paid off. Lucas knew this perception; there were girls at his school who had crushes on Keenan. But that wasn't important right now. "Keenan, I'll need you and Kristy to keep an eye on the computer. If we get to Cherrymon's area we'll need directions."

"Got'cha! But how do we keep in contact?"

"We have VidChat on our phones," Lucas explained, "It's another brainstorm Ayaka had. She thinks D-Phones are… innerdiamondshell?"

"Really?" Ayaka and Kenji asked with perplexed expressions.

"Interdimensional," Ayaka corrected.

"Yeah that, she thinks we can contact people in the Human World from the Digital one."

"Alright, we'll keep on standby. My parents will be home with my sister soon though, and they can still be a little paranoid about me and the Digital World."

"You Keenan, you Digimon Warrior," Kristy teased.

"Uh, hey!"

"They're so meant for each other," muttered Lucas, "What'cha think Veemon?"

"Definitely, but we should get going."

"So Ayaka, what should we say?" Kenji asked once the computer was set up.

"Try saying 'Target' and then the name of where you want to go," Ayaka said.

"Okay," Lucas said, selecting the Portal App. "Target Cherrymon's forest."

A message came up on the phone that he proceeded to read out loud, "Request acknowledged," he said, "Wait! So does that mean it worked?"

"Hopefully, now continue as normal."

"I thought of something to say actually," Lucas said cheerily, aiming the D-Phone at the computer, "Digi-Port open!" he cried, and in a flash of light the Digi-Destined were pulled into the computer.

When they arrived in the Digital World they saw they were in a slightly different forest to what they were used to. Besides looking much more like their native Japan, there was also a thick fog surrounding them. However the fog didn't feel obstructive or intimidating. It was warm, and seemed like it was protective. Lucas quickly opened the VidChat on his D-Phone and, to his delight; his call to Keenan went through flawlessly. "Hey Keenan!" Lucas cried, seeing his face, and Kristy's, appear on the screen, "You seein' me fine?"

"Crystal clear," Keenan replied.

"Sweet!" Lucas cheered, "Ayaka, you're the best."

"Thanks," replied Ayaka bashfully. 'I love it when he's sweet… in his own hyperactive way,' she thought.

"So question two," Lucas said, pointing the D-Phone towards the environment so, "Are we near Cherrymon?"

"I'm not sure," Keenan replied, "I can't see through that fog. It matches Cherrymon's methods though."

"Then we'll just have to find someone to ask for directions," Ayaka said.

"Great idea, except for the fact there's nobody here," Veemon said.

"Then we find someone, duh," Lucas replied.

"I bet you mom's last cookie I find someone first," the Digimon challenged.

"Oh you're so on!"

"I would say, based on my observations, that I have a good understanding of why those two were chosen as partners," Hawkmon said as he and Ayaka followed their friends.

"And I see why you're with Ayaka," Armadillomon replied frankly, chuckling.

An hour later the three humans and their Digimon were still wandering through the fog, and Ayaka and Kenji were both beginning to suspect that they were lost. "You know, Cherrymon are Virus-type Digimon," Hawkmon said.

"What's that mean?" Lucas asked.

"Digimon come in three types; Virus, Data and Vaccine," Hawkmon explained, "Generally speaking Virus-type Digimon are often cruel and sinister, and Vaccine-types are often committed to justice and peacekeeping, and the Data-types are usually neutral and can swing either way."

"Um… so virus ones are evil, vaccine ones are good and data ones are in the middle?" asked Lucas.

"Surprisingly yes," Ayaka replied.

"So what does that have to do with our walking around in the fog lost?" asked Kenji.

"We're not los-" Lucas began, before Hawkmon interrupted him.

"I'm simply stating that I've never met a Cherrymon I can trust, and maybe he's trying to keep us lost."

"That's a horrible thing to say," replied Lucas strongly.

"I'm simply stating a possibility."

"Yeah, well it's just as possible that I'm the long lost Metal Emperor," Lucas retorted, "This Cherrymon is a friend of Keenan's, and the DATS squad. He was the first Digimon to trust them, and so we owe him our trust in return. If they'll vouch for him, then I trust him."

"Lucas is right," Kenji added, "It's not a random Cherrymon we're supposed to trust, it's our friends who've felt this one to be worthy of being theirs."

"Alright, alright I was just trying to be thorough," Hawkmon said, "No need to bite my head off."

"I think he was also using it as an opportunity to start a lecture on Digimon types," Ayaka added.

"Ayaka!" cried Hawkmon indignantly.

"Well it's true. I believe you left out the part about Digimon being able to change their type, some of them changing appearance with it."

"I've never seen a Cherrymon change, but I suppose there is a first time for everything. We won't know anything until we get through this fog."

"I just had an idea on that actually," Lucas said, "Just follow my lead Veemon."

"Sure thing partner."

"Cherrymon!" Lucas called "If this is your region, then please show yourself! We're friends of Keenan's!"

"How is that a plan?" Kenji asked.

"Keenan said that Cherrymon's a tree," replied Lucas, "So I figured maybe it could talk to trees."

"Maybe you're really not as dumb as you look," said Ayaka.

"That's what he keeps saying," Veemon replied.

"Lucas' intelligence is one thing," Kenji interjected, "Whether or not his idea worked is another."

"Did you call?" asked a voice.

From the bushes and fog emerged a Digimon in the shape of a dog-sized mammal, looking like a mix between a rabbit and a weasel, with red fur streaked with electric blue, long ears, and a fan-like tail. "This is an Elecmon Ayaka," Lucas said quickly, "And yeah I did."

"You're looking for Cherrymon, are you associated with the Digimon Harbinger?" Elecmon asked bluntly.

"No, we're the Digi-destined," said Kenji.

"Prove it," retorted Elecmon.

"We're standing right here, how's that for proof?" Veemon said, sounding annoyed.

"Digimon with humans means nothing."

"Then what about these," replied Lucas, showing his D-Phone.

Elecmon watched while the other two got out their digivices as well and Lucas could see that the Digimon was appraising them. However he still didn't seem completely convinced, though he had yet to say anything. "Fine," Lucas said, opening the VidChat screen and bringing up Keenan's feed, "Keenan, we need your help here."

"You know Keenan?" Elecmon asked cautiously.

"Yes, here," Lucas replied, turning the phone so Elecmon could see.

"Hi Elecmon," Keenan said, waving, "Listen, I asked them to check on Cherrymon. With all the commotion in the Digital World I wanted to make sure he's okay."

"Why not come yourself?" asked Elecmon.

"Because the black shards prevent digivolution," Lucas answered, "Only Veemon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon have a way of doing it; which means if there's a problem, we're the only ones who can help."

There was a long pause in which Elecmon continued to appraise the three kids, before at last he sighed. "Well alright then. Cherrymon! Let them in!"

A path in the fog suddenly seemed to open, and Elecmon took the lead as the group walked down it. All three kids were wondering the same thing; why Cherrymon was so guarded. Of course with everything going on it was expected to be defensive, but all of them thought this was a bit much. "Why so much security?" asked Kenji at length, speaking his mind as usual.

"You'll see in just a moment," replied Elecmon.

"Sounds fascinating," Ayaka muttered.

Lucas recognized the tone in her voice; it was the 'I want to start researching' tone. However her tone took an abrupt change when the fog cleared completely and they entered Cherrymon's domain completely.

It was a bright, verdant forest, with flowers galore, and multicoloured trees. It was like a nursery mixed with a forest grove. And the reason for the design choice quickly became apparent as the three kids spotted hundreds of brightly coloured eggs, and an equal amount of small Digimon. All were very blob-like, with vague shapes like black teddy bear heads, or brown with three horns, or green with a single horn, or puffs of smoke, and a whole other variety of shapes that were strange, yet extremely cute. "Baby Digimon!" Ayaka cried.

"Yes, Baby Digimon, or 'Fresh' if you will," Elecmon said, "Remember; Digimon never die. They just get reconfigured. And when they do, their eggs will appear in one of the four Primary Forests in the Digital World. The purified Cherrymon operates one, while different former-Virus Digimon operate the others."

"So that explains the friendly Cherrymon," Hawkmon said.

"Don't think that the change to a Vaccine was forced on them," Elecmon replied, almost scoldingly, "They each chose to change and each were put through trials to prove that their wishes were genuine. Then they were rewarded with what they sought."

"Oh, but then why were they chosen to lead the Primary Forests?" asked Hawkmon.

"Because they were given a second chance, so they understand more than anyone how to make wrong and right choices," Kenji explained, "Everyone deserves a second chance."

"That's right," replied Elecmon.

"Well everyone seems fine," Lucas observed, "Looks like your friend is doing just fine Keenan."

"I don't know Lucas," Keenan replied from the D-Phone, "Looks can be deceiving."

"The human son of Merukimon is correct," Elecmon verified, "While the forest itself is fine, I'm afraid to say Cherrymon is not."

"In what way?" asked Ayaka.

"You'll see soon enough. Please try to keep up."

"You know for a rookie he sure is strict," Lucas whispered to Veemon.

"Not all Digimon are free spirits like me," the blue Digimon replied with a shrug.

The group made their way through the clearing, following Elecmon. He was leading them towards a clump of large, particularly grand trees a short ways from the clearing. Yet despite their grandeur and lush appearance, there was a sort of miasma that filled the air as the Digidestined approached. The bright light that permeated the rest of the forest was diminished as well. "I take it back, there's something wrong," Lucas said.

"Quite perceptive," gasped an old, grandfatherly voice from the dimness ahead.

They came into view of a large, old tree with a face formed on its trunk, glowing eyes, and leaves that created the effect of a moustache. Its roots and lower branches created legs and arms, but currently its leaves were coloured orange and it appeared to be in pain or stress of some kind. "So, the Legend of the Digidestined is true," Cherrymon said, "Three human children equipped with the D-Phone digivices and paired with ancient Digimon."

"That's us," Lucas declared proudly, "But forget about us, what's wrong with you?"

"The black shards," Cherrymon rasped, "They're in me."

"What!?" all three kid cried in shock.

"But black shards turn the Digimon that have them into raging monsters," Lucas exclaimed.

"You're right, and I've yet to figure why my will remains my own. However I must fight day and night to keep it this way and I have several attempting to subvert me. It's all I can do to maintain the mist barrier and keep my mind mine."

"So you want us to get rid of them," Lucas said with a confident grin, "Not a problem. Digi-Armour Energize!"

After the usual light show of orange-red energy Veemon had digivolved into Flamedramon. "Lucas! You can't use Flamedramon," Ayaka scolded.

"Why not?"

"Because Cherrymon's a tree!" Kenji added, "Wood is flammable!"

"Oh yeah," Lucas replied sheepishly, "Then we'll break them ourselves and have the Digimon stand guard."

"Our Digimon don't use fire," Kenji said, "Why can't they do it?"

"If Flamedramon can't do anything, then nobody else can."

"That's childish," Armadillomon said, "But he sort of has a point. As long as Veemon's digivolved he might as well not waste it."

"Stop yappin' and let's just do it!" Lucas called, rushing around to Cherrymon's backside where the three shards were clearly imbedded.

"Alright here it comes! Boomerang Strike!" Lucas cried, hurling his boomerang at one of the shards.

"Yo-yo Whip!" Ayaka cried, arriving beside him and swinging her yo-yo at a second shard.

"Bat Smash!" Kenji finished, striking the final shard physically with his bat.

"You guys are so cheesy," Keenan said from Lucas' pocket.

Lucas was too busy with the shards to give a retort, and after a few strikes from their weapons the shards shattered into nothingness. Immediately Cherrymon let out a sigh of relief and the miasma surrounding them seemed to lift. And yet while Lucas cheered, Ayaka couldn't help but feel that it had been too easy, and she couldn't figure out why Cherrymon was able to resist the things either. "Something doesn't feel right," Kenji said, "That was too easy."

"I was thinking the same thing," Ayaka added.

"Actually now that you mention it…" agreed Lucas.

"Very clever Digi-destined," said a cruel, commanding voice overhead.

The three children and their Digimon looked up to see a Digimon in the shape of a tall, thin man clad in a black jumpsuit with multiple belts across his limbs, and even a dark hood that covered all but the grey flesh around its fanged mouth. Its skeletal arms ended in hands with long, clawed fingers. Most intimidating was the orange symbol on its chest, its pair of fiendish horns, and the tattered wings it used to hover above the clearing. "Devimon!" gasped Elecmon.

"Who's Devimon?" asked Ayaka, feeling cold as she looked at the Digimon whose eyes glowed red.

"One of the Nightmare Soldiers, a group of purely evil Digimon from the depths of the Dark Area itself," Elecmon explained.

Even Lucas felt like his courage was being sapped out as he looked up at the Digimon. He felt like running away and giving up hope, and when Devimon spoke it was like daggers slicing through his heart. "The Children of Prophecy, chosen to save the Digital World. Yet it seems even the sight of true evil is enough to have you trembling. And yet despite your ability to deduce the trap that was laid, you still walked into it."

"What trap?" Lucas asked, working up his courage enough to speak.

"Is it not obvious? The Black Shards create a brief energy spike when destroyed, which can be used to mark the location of places such as this accursed place of happiness. It was just as the Harbinger planned."

"You mean you're working for the Digimon Harbinger?" asked Lucas.

"We have an arrangement!" Devimon shouted, clearly not fond of his position in the arrangement. "And as the arrangement involves destroying pathetic points of light like you, then I will gladly accept."

"Just try it!" Lucas cried, "Get him Flamedramon!"

"Finally!" the Digimon cried, "Fire Rocket!"

Flamedramon shot upwards, surrounded by flame, only for Devimon to dodge to the side and retaliate by grabbing his tail and brutally hurling him towards the ground. "Boomerang Strike!" Lucas cried, hurling his weapon, only for Devimon to swat it aside. "Guys! Help!" Lucas called to his friends.

"Huh, what?" Ayaka asked, "But… what hope do we have against that?"

"We could try," Kenji said half-heartedly.

"Yes we can try!" Lucas cried "We always have to try. The hope we have against that thing is by working together. Now come on and help!"

"In one of those rare occasions, he's right Ayaka," Hawkmon said, "Devimon is evil and powerful, but he's only a Champion Digimon. If we work together we should be able to beat him."

"Yes… yes you're right. We have to try," said Ayaka, her hand flaring red.

A second later Halsemon and Frogmon appeared and the former took to the skies and the latter hid in the trees. "Eagle Eye!" cried Halsemon, firing beams of red at Devimon, who dodged to the side.

"Flame Fist!" cried Flamedramon from the trees, sending balls of flame up into Devimon's path, and the dark Digimon had one clip his wing.

"Leaf Wheel Cutter!" cried the unseen Frogmon, after which the two propellers he used to fly spun up from the trees and circle around the injured Devimon.

"Kenji! Us too," Lucas said, "Boomerang Strike!"

"Homerun Strike!" Kenji added, sending a bolt of green energy hurtling straight towards Devimon.

The attacks all struck home and sent Devimon, wounded, spiralling towards the ground. "It seems you need our help," hissed a raspy, cruel, yet childish voice.

As if forming out of the sky a monstrous Digimon-like a dragon with features oddly similar to Devimon's, from the four tattered black wings to the red claws, uncloaked itself and flew down to catch the falling Devimon in its claws. "How pathetic," hissed the voice again, not coming from the large demon-dragon, but from something on top of it.

A small blue Digimon skittered onto the large one's head. This one looked like a blue talon, with five stumpy legs ending with claws, all attached to a round dome-shaped blob with antennae and a red eye that looked identical to one Lucas and Flamedramon had seen a lot the day before. "Is that Kuramon?" asked Lucas.

"Yes, it appears to have digivolved to its In-Training stage," Halsemon replied.

"Heya Digidumbdumbs," the Digimon said almost cheerily, "I'm Tsumemon now, and don't think playtime is over just cuz you beat up Devimon."

"Why's that?" asked Ayaka.

"Because I got a bigger team," Tsumemon boasted as four more of the Digimon he was riding appeared. "These are Devidramon, they're like big puppies that destroy meddling humans and their Armour Digimon."

"We'll see about that," cried Lucas, "Flamedramon!"

"On it! Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon cried, shooting towards the Devidramon.

"Mach Impulse!" Halsemon added, firing twin blades of pressurized air from his wings.

"Hidden Dagger!" Frogmon finished, jumping from the trees and hurling two glowing green daggers.

All five Devidramon took the attacks head on and the ones hit wasted no time in shrugging off their wounds. "Crimson Claw!" they growled, jumping on the Armour Digimon and slashing them viciously with their clawed hands before finally batting them all to the ground.

The kids called out their partners' names in horror as they ran to their sides. Above them the Devidramon growled menacingly as the Armour Digimon reverted to their Rookie forms again. "Lucas, why are there four of you?" Veemon asked, looking very dizzy.

"Just take a moment to catch your breath," Lucas said, "Then we can get back in the fight."

"Lucas I hate to be the downer, but we don't have a moment," said Kenji.

"No time outs!" Tsumemon cried cheerily, "Press forward Devidramon!"

"Excuse me, but have you forgotten about me?" Cherrymon asked calmly, "I've already had a time out and now I won't stand idly by while you attack my village or my friends."

"What!? You were supposed to be too tired to play anymore!" Tsumemon yelled. "Devidramon! Attack Cherrymon!"

The demon-dragons swooped down towards the tree Digimon, bearing their claws. Cherrymon simply stood his ground and waited until they were close enough. When they were he bent his boughs forwards and cried "Cherry Bomb!" sending hundreds of cherries pelting out from his branches. Each one of them exploded when it struck, spreading golden juice that seemed to burn where it touched the Devidramon.

The Devidramon recoiled in pain and roared. "Vine Attack," Cherrymon said as the vines running through his branches shot out towards the Devidramon.

At the sight of this Tsumemon urged his mount to fly away, taking the injured Devimon with it. The remaining demon dragons were grabbed by Cherrymon's vines and hurled to the ground. The laid there in unconsciousness while Cherrymon tapped each on the head with the butt of his cane. In an instant the Digimon glowed and shrank, reverting all the way back to eggs. "That is the power of the Primary Forest," Cherrymon said, "If a Digimon has acted against the Forest then I can revert them their egg state; as long as they're significantly weakened first."

"Woah," the kids muttered, standing over the eggs that had moments before been bearing down on them.

"That's just the Digimon circle of life," Armadillomon said simply.

"Remember what I said," Kenji added, "Everyone deserves a second chance."

"That's correct," Cherrymon confirmed, "And Digimon have many chances."

"We know," Lucas said, "If it means we get new friends, then I don't care."

"And as long as they're loved they'll be fine."

"Lucas!" cried Keenan from Lucas' D-Phone, sounding worried.

"Yeah?" Lucas asked, pulling out the digivice.

"Finally! You cut out for about twenty or thirty minutes."

"Ah! Keenan, last I saw you… weren't you and Peckmon actually fighting in my forest?" Cherrymon said.

"Oh, right that," replied Keenan sheepishly, "Sorry. I was just a confused little kid."

"You mean 'Digimon warrior'," Lucas teased.

"Shut up."

"Cherrymon, do you know anything about Marcus or Agumon?" Ayaka asked abruptly.

"Good thinking as usual Ayaka," Lucas said quietly.

"I last saw him about three months ago. He stopped by to check on us, this was before the black shards mind you, and then he left. Look, I can tell all three of you kids are seeking answers so I think it would be better that I direct you to a place where you can find them. A ways to the east of here is a place called the Dragon Shrine. If you want answers or advice, then my suggestion would be to search there."

"I'll make a note of that," Kenji said, jotting it down in some app from his original phone.

"Crap! We have to get back," Lucas cried with shock as he checked the time.

"What's the rush?" asked Kenji, surprised by his urgent tone.

"There's something I have to do. Digi-port open!" Lucas cried, pointing his D-Phone at a nearby tree.

Before Ayaka could protest his method a computer monitor screen appeared. After a quick farewell to Cherrymon the three kids and their Digimon vanished through the portal and appeared in Keenan's living room, landing right on top of the teens. As fast he possibly could Lucas got to his feet and, after a quick apology and farewell, he was out the door. "Where are we going in such a hurry?" Veemon asked from the digivice.

"Surprise," replied Lucas.

((()))

"Devimon is lame," Tsumemon complained as he skittered onto the Harbinger's shoulder.

In front of them knelt the tall figure of Devimon, looking quite ashamed of himself, but also furious at having to humiliate himself in front of a human child. The Digimon Harbinger, however, gazed at him with blank expression and showed no real signs of anger or disappointment. "Do better next time," was all he said, turning in his chair, "You're dismissed. I have more important things to worry about."

"May I ask what, master?"

"I won't answer, so don't bother. Now begone, I have work to do."

**End Chapter**


	6. Episode 6

**Episode 6**

Lucas rang the doorbell of the Crier house and waited for it to be answered. Because of the larger size of their house, the Digidestined and DATS had decided to use it as the unofficial gathering place. "Ten days since we last went into the Digital World," sighed Lucas, "The Digimon Harbinger's gonna win if we don't pick up our pace."

"We've gone," Veemon corrected from Lucas' D-Phone, "Kenji said he went in twice last week and we went in on Friday."

"But none of us went together. We decided that we'd be best off going to the Dragon Shrine together, that and Ayaka discovered that it seemed to be a location that was 'immune' to portals."

"And Sundays you go to that ban-" Veemon began, interrupted by Lucas covering the D-Phone's speaker as the door was answered.

The one answering the door was a slightly overweight man with a kind face, a small moustache and very short, slicked brown hair that was greying in spots. "Hey Mr. Crier," Lucas said casually.

"Hi Lucas," Mr. Crier said, "Keenan's in the shower, but come in anyways."

"Thanks."

When he got into their living room Lucas let Veemon out of the D-Phone who promptly sat beside him. "Luke!" cried a cheery, girl's voice.

A young girl with brown hair appeared in the living room and ran to sit on the couch next to Lucas. "Hey Ruka," he replied.

"V-Man too," the little girl said, hugging the Digimon tightly who gasped for air when she let him go.

"It's Veemon," he corrected through his gasps.

"He's like a dragon Falcon Man," Ruka said cheerily. "Do you two wanna play kick the can? I've gotten lots better."

"I'd love to Ruka, but I can't today."

"Aww, do you wanna play V-Man?"

"I don't know how to play that. And it's Veemon."

"Don't worry I'll teach you!" Ruka said, running out the back door, dragging Veemon after her.

"For some reason I like that kid," said Lucas.

"She's very energetic," said Keenan's mom, appearing from the kitchen with a glass of water, "In fact last week she scrambled up a tree and couldn't figure out how to get down."

"You don't say," said Lucas sheepishly, knowing what Mrs. Crier was thinking.

Mrs. Crier was a slim woman with a face as kind as her husband's, and she was generally in better shape, and both of them were very intelligent. One thing Lucas had always found strange though was the fact that Keenan was the only one in his family with those hawk-like yellow eyes. Neither of his parents had them, nor did his aunt. "You're here to do more Digital World stuff aren't you?" Mrs. Crier asked.

"Yes," Lucas said carefully.

Both of Keenan's parents still bore the scars from fifteen years ago, and of course it was something Lucas had to be told about by Ayaka. Neither of them had been particularly pleased when they'd discovered Keenan's renewed activity with the Digital World, but both, particularly Mr. Crier, were fascinated by the ability of the D-Phones to easily create what the two of them had spent months preparing. "Just be careful," Mrs. Crier replied, "I wouldn't wish what happened to us on anyone."

"Don't worry mom," came Keenan's voice as he appeared from upstairs, dressed in a simple t-shirt and cargo shorts, "I helped save both worlds, and my little bro and his friends are just as strong as we were."

"I know," Mrs. Crier said with a sigh, "I just wouldn't want to lose either of you."

She shook her head and smiled before stepping outside to supervise Veemon and Ruka, mainly the latter. "I don't know why she's so worried about me," said Lucas, "She acts like I'm her son."

"I've noticed that," Keenan said, sitting next to him as Falcomon came down the stairs as well. "Falcomon came up with a theory about it."

"What? Oh, yes that," said Falcomon, startled by the sudden spotlight.

"He thinks that my parents see you as, well, me," Keenan explained, "They see you as a stand-in for the young version of me that they never got to know. Plus you hang out with me enough that they've gotten used you having you around."

"Ohhh, that makes sense. I think."

"Hm, where's Veemon?" asked Falcomon.

"Playing with Ruka," said Lucas.

"Do you think he can handle it?"

"Yup. So do either of you know anything about the Dragon Shrine?"

Both shook their heads. "We'd heard of it," Keenan said, "Every Digimon did. We thought it was just an old ruin, and Merukimon stated it was off limits to everyone, by order of Yggdrasil."

"It does seem rather suspicious looking back," Falcomon added, "I'm quite interested in it to be perfectly honest."

"You can come if you want," Lucas offered.

"We'll see," said Keenan, "I'm worried about this Devimon you mentioned. I thought Frigimon made up the Nightmare Soldiers as just a scary story. Even after seeing Belphemon I never considered that there might be others like him, or the Dark Area."

"Every Digimon knows about the Dark Area; those who are truly evil are imprisoned there. It's a frightening idea, and if its residents are in league with the Harbinger then this could get very bad," explained Falcomon.

"I could feel it," Lucas said, shivering as he remembered the chill that surrounded the evil Digimon, "It was cold."

"You were able to beat him though," said Keenan, "You did it by working together. Remember that next time and you might be able to defeat him for good."

"What happens to Digimon like that?" asked Lucas, "I'm glad the Devidramon get to start over, would Devimon get that chance?"

"All Digimon get that chance," replied Falcomon, "He'll revert to a Digi-Egg and appear in a Primary Area. Whether or not he grows up resisting his virus, or is cleansed of it, or submits to it again is another story."

Lucas didn't respond. He still felt strange about the prospect of destroying another Digimon, no matter how vile and cruel they were, he wasn't sure if he could carry through with it. Ayaka had shared a similar sentiment with him the night after they got back from Cherrymon's Forest. "Let me guess," said Keenan, "You're wondering if you'll feel like a murderer if you make him reconfigure."

"How did you know?"

"Brother's intuition. I know it may be hard, but remember that Devimon won't afford you the same kind of mercy, nor will any of the other Nightmare Soldiers. And he'll get another chance, they all will. Didn't Kenji say everyone deserves a second chance?"

"Yeah he did," Lucas said with a sigh, "I guess I can go through with it."

"Don't forget," came Kenji's voice, much to Lucas' surprise, "He was willing to destroy the entire Primary location and all of the baby Digimon. And we know he'll try again."

"When did you two get here?" asked Lucas with surprise.

"Just now," replied Ayaka, sitting down on Lucas' other side, "It's not hard to sneak up on you."

"Oh, so what do you think? Could you go through with making Devimon reconfigure?"

"I think I could," said Ayaka, "I was uncertain before… but something about him makes me feel sorry for him. If Digimon are data turned into living creatures, then they carry the reasons for the data with them. I believe Yggdrasil, as a computer itself, interpreted everything to create Digimon as they are, and did it through its own understanding of that data. But as creatures of data, they had the possibility of being affected by computer viruses just as much a PC, and Yggdrasil must have accidentally let some kind of computer virus get mixed into the world it created."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that Virus Digimon have been affected by something that's corrupted their very data and turned them into what they've become. I think it infects baby Digimon who didn't hatch in a Primary location, for whatever reason. Think of how Keenan might have ended up if Frigimon hadn't found him," Ayaka said, looking to Keenan who seemed startled at the thought.

"I've never thought of that. I always assumed I would've, you know…" Keenan trailed off.

"But what if you hadn't? What if you, having turned into data, were infected by that virus and raised by it? Growing up never even knowing what love or caring were, while the virus twisted you around. You could've ended up just as monstrous as Kurata or Devimon."

"And in that event," Kenji stepped in, "Wouldn't the kindest thing to do for that person be giving them a chance to start over, without the Virus attached to them, and with the warmth of the Primary location."

Lucas sighed and hugged Keenan briefly, not liking the thought of him being anyone other than who he is. "You two are right," he said, getting to his feet, "Yeah, plus it's the only way to stop him. Thanks Ayaka, thanks Kenji."

"Thank Hawkmon and Armadillomon," Kenji said, "They explained it to us."

"You know there's one thing I really want explained to me," Ayaka said, "Lucas, where you go every Sunday afternoon?"

"From her calculations you've been completely unavailable, consistently, every Sunday afternoon for the last two and a half years," Hawkmon said, sounding like this was somewhat rehearsed.

"He's right," Kenji added, "I always thought you were just going to Keenan's, but you dashed out of here too. So where've you been going?"

"I, uh, it's… w-we should really get going," replied Lucas nervously, running to the back door to call in Veemon.

When he came back he saw all three of his friends giving him disapproving looks. "You're not changing the subject that easily," said Kenji, "I thought you said friends shouldn't keep secrets."

Lucas sighed at this; he was hoping they wouldn't remember that. "I can't tell you," Lucas said, "I'm not allowed."

"What do you mean you're not allowed?" asked Ayaka.

"I mean I'm not allowed. Come on, let's just get to this. Keenan's coming too by the way," Lucas said.

"Shouldn't we ask your parents if you're allowed?" Kenji asked Keenan.

"Yeah I was just about to do that," said Keenan a she got to his feet, "But if they say no, then I can't go. Got that Lucas?"

"What? Why're you telling me?"

"Because I know you'll try and get me to go anyways."

"I've never done that," protested Lucas, folding his arms, but knowing that he definitely had.

Kevin Crier was in his home office when the kids found him about a minute later and after explaining the situation he paused to think for a good minute or two more. "Alright, you can go Keenan," he said, "On one condition; you stick with Falcomon and your friends."

"I won't let anything happen to him, ninja's promise," Falcomon said.

"Good, then you can get going."

"Alright!" cheered Lucas once they returned to the living room.

"The closest spot the Dragon Shrine I could find was a place called Shogun Village," Ayaka said, "We should target that and see if we can get transport of some kind."

"Okay," Lucas said, aiming his D-Phone at the computer, "Target Shogun Village. Digi-Port Open!"

The sensation of going to the Digital World was feeling much more normal for the kids by now, but Keenan was still new to it and he uttered a 'woah' as he was pulled into the computer. Moments later they stood in a forest on the outskirts of a town that seemed straight out of one of the historical site or a samurai movie. "Hm, reminds me of that show, something kenshin," muttered Lucas as they walked into the town.

The majority of the town's population also seemed to be bipedal frog-like Digimon with some sort of tuba-like instrument sitting over their shoulder and wrapping around their neck. They were accompanied by smaller blue tadpole looking Digimon with two front legs. According to Hawkmon they were Gekomon and Otamamon. There were also a handful of small, round Digimon clad in red hoods, and with spiked pauldrons. "And those are Ninjamon," Armadillomon added.

"No ninja's a match for you as Frogmon," Kenji said.

"You sound like Lucas," Armadillomon said with a chuckle.

"I guess he's rubbed off on me," replied Kenji with a shrug.

"Come on guys! Catch up!" shouted Lucas from far ahead.

Kenji sighed as he ran to catch up to his friends, but all the while he was noticing the eyes of the Gekomon and Otamamon on them. "Lucas, we need to find someone to ask about the Dragon Shrine," he urged.

"Oh, right," Lucas replied, "Hey Gekomon!" he cried, running up to a nearby Digimon, "Do you know anything about Dragon Shrine?"

"What do I look like, a tour guide? Go bother someone else you stupid human," the Gekomon replied angrily.

"Didn't have to be such a grouch about it," Lucas said, turning back to see all three of his friends facepalming. "What?"

"If some random person walked up to you and asked you where Himeji Castle, what would you do?" asked Kenji.

"I'd tell them to go ask someone who… ohhhh."

"Yeah, even I have to say that the direct approach was probably a bad idea," said Keenan, "On top of just being annoying, remember that we _are_ humans. The Digimon here still remember five years ago, and they're not going to forget so easily."

"What we need is a plan," Armadillomon said.

"Then that means Ayaka's up," said Lucas cheerily.

"Ayaka and Hawkmon," Veemon corrected, "They're the super smart ones."

"Well… you're a ninja Falcomon, do you know anybody here?" Hawkmon asked.

"No, can't say I do I'm afraid."

"What about you Keenan?" asked Ayaka, to which the older boy shook his head.

"I suppose we could actually look for a tour guide," said Hawkmon.

"Shogun Sword!" cried out a deep, slightly guttural and very angry sounding voice.

This was followed by an explosion somewhere in the village, and screaming. Immediately the Digidestined ran towards the source of the cry. They were stopped halfway down a street by the appearance of a large yellow fox-like Digimon with multiple tails, a yin-yang symbol on its flank and forehead, white mane and greyish flames around its paws. "That's a Kyubimon," Hawkmon said.

"And look, in its forehead!" cried Keenan, pointing to a black shard.

"Guess that makes you two useless," said Lucas.

"Ouch little bro," said Keenan, "But you're right. Come on Falcomon, let's get ou- uh oh!"

Lucas turned around to see Keenan facing another Kyubimon, also controlled by a black shared in its forehead. Then on a roof above them appeared a Digimon that looked remarkably like a samurai, or perhaps a demonic samurai, as its mouth was lined with sharp teeth, its skin was purple and its one bare foot was quite monstrous in appearance. It also possessed a mane, or cape, of what looked like purple hair. "Ah ha! There you are, I am under orders from the Digimon Harbinger to destroy you; the Digidestined," the samurai Digimon said.

"And who exactly are you?" asked Ayaka.

"I am Musyamon, one of the Nightmare Soldiers. Let us see if you are even worthy of my blade; attack, my Kyubimon dogs!"

"Digi-armour Energize!" cried the Digidestined in unison, and seconds later their Digimon had digivolved, just in time to stop the pouncing Kyubimon.

"Ayaka, you and Halsemon take one Kyubimon, Kenji and Frogmon take the other," Lucas ordered.

"And you and Flamedramon?" asked Ayaka.

"We're going after Musyamon," said Lucas, leaping towards the roof alongside his Digimon.

The samurai Digimon laughed and backed away so that the two would land in front of him. "You think you're worthy of fighting me hm? First you must pass a test like everyone else."

"What kind of test?" asked Flamedramon.

A Digimon appeared in a burst of smoke who appeared to be the same as Ninjamon in every way, except his hood was purple instead of red. A black shard could be seen in his left pauldron, nestled amongst the spikes. "This is Kogamon," said Musyamon, "Let's see if you can best him first."

"You chicken!" cried Lucas angrily.

"Insults are meaningless to me. Show me your strength in battle."

"Fine! Boomerang Strike!"

Lucas hurled his boomerang, only for Kogamon to swiftly draw his sword and deflect it, sending the weapon clattering along the roof. Lucas was surprised to see it return to his hand almost immediately, but had to quickly move aside as Kogamon hurled a shuriken at him and Flamedramon, the latter dodging as well.

Meanwhile Ayaka and Halsemon dealt with avoiding Fox-Tail Inferno from Kyubimon; which was a series of ghost-faced grey fireballs that erupted from its tails. "Yo-Yo Whip!" she cried, aiming for the black shard on its forehead, only to have it swatted aside.

Halsemon came from behind the kitsune Digimon and fired his Mach Impulse attack, sending twin blades of air out from his wings which converged on Kyubimon and struck it. The attack sent Kyubimon flying into a wall, but before Ayaka could even begin to move to strike out the black shard it had recovered. Ayaka was left with little time to react before she felt the Digimon plow into her and send her to the ground. "Ayaka!" she heard Halsemon cry.

"I'm fine," she groaned as Kyubimon stood over her.

'Just like wrestling with Daichi,' she thought as Kyubimon's jaws came closer to her, and Halsemon was left trying to think of something.

Ayaka wrestled with her older brother Daichi a lot, though perhaps it was more apt to say he wrestled with her. It seemed to be his way of being brotherly and over the years Ayaka had learned ways to fight back. One that she'd learned, when being pinned almost like this, was to remember her legs. And so she tucked in her legs and, with all her enhanced strength, kicked into Kyubimon's stomach.

The Digimon yelped as the kick tossed it into the air and Ayaka rolled back to her feet. "Halsemon! Now!" she cried.

"Eagle Eye!" called Halsemon.

The signature red beams shot from his eyes and struck the black shard on Kyubimon's forehead. It cracked and shattered, freeing the Digimon from the Harbinger's control, after which it paused to look around in confusion before running off.

Meanwhile Kenji had been using his bat to fend off the Kyujimon attacking him, while Frogmon was attacking from the rooftops. The one moment when Frogmon closed in for a closer ranged attack was shortly before Ayaka was pounced on, and Kyujimon had used Dragon Wheel; a technique where it spun in place at high speeds, the fire on its tails and paws becoming brighter and more intense until the Digimon was nothing but a whirling blaze of grey fire, from which emerged a firey dragon the spun around to hit both human and Digimon.

Kenji found himself hurled into the wall of the building nearby, but found his clothing seemed to protect him from any burns. Frogmon's mechanized body seemed to withstand the fire as well and he showed his ninja-like skills by springing off of the wall instead and hurling his Leaf Cutter Wheels spiralling off from his back towards Kyujimon. "You okay Kenji?" Ayaka asked, running over to help him up.

"Fine," he replied, "Ah ha," he added, seeing an opening as Kyujimon was distracted by the spinning blades.

"Homerun Strike!" he called, batting a bolt of green energy towards this Kyubimon's black shard.

The kitsune Digimon responded a second too late and the energy bolt struck the black shard. It was a perfect bullseye and the shard cracked and splintered. One of the Leaf Cutter Wheels sliced in and finished the job, shattering the shard completely before both wheels returned to Frogmon's back. Kyubimon promptly ran off as well.

There was a large burst of flame from the rooftop all of the sudden and both saw Lucas hurtle through the air and plough into the ground nearby. "Lucas!" the cried, running over to him.

"Are you okay?" Ayaka asked with concern.

"I'm fine," replied Lucas as he got to his feet, though the burns and bruises on his face suggested otherwise.

"What happened?" Kenji asked.

"It's this Digimon, Kogamon, he used this ninja cloning thing and attacked us. It was getting too much so I had Flamedramon use Fire Rocket right into the roof, and now here I am."

"That was stupid," said Kenji.

"Whatever, we need to help Flamedramon," said Lucas, running towards the building and jumping up onto it, followed shortly by Ayaka, Kenji and their Digimon.

They spotted Flamedramon looking weary in the midst of the Kogamon clones. "I brought back-up Flamedramon!" Lucas yelled.

"This is what I was made for," Frogmon said, "Leaf Cutter Wheels!"

The propellers, or Leaf Cutter Wheels, on his back detached once again and spun through the crowd of Kogamon clones, causing each one to disperse when it struck, while the Digidestined used their own weapons, and Halsemon simply used his claws. Each clone dispersed once struck and soon it had dwindled down to just the original Kogamon, now looking very tired and woozy.

"I guess all those clones took a lot out of him," said Ayaka.

"Boomerang Strike!" cried Lucas, hurling his boomerang at Kogamon's black shard.

The attack connected, the shard shattered, and Lucas grabbed his boomerang as it returned. Kogamon looked around in confusion and suddenly screamed as he was struck by a powerful sword. The Digimon shattered into hundreds of tiny little specks or flakes of some kind that floated upwards and vanished, leaving the Digidestined horrified. "Useless tool," Musyamon spat.

"You… you…" Lucas fumed, "You murdering jerk!" he yelled.

"He'll be reconfigured, so what does it matter?" asked Musyamon, "Or didn't the jungle boy tell you?"

"It doesn't matter; you can't just force every Digimon to restart their life because they're no use to you. They're living things!" cried Ayaka.

"Those simpering emotions; those are why humans and Digimon are weak. That is except for us Nightmare Soldiers. The Digimon Harbinger has promised us dominion over this world, and all we have to do is destroy the Digidestined," explained the samurai Digimon.

"I hope you're ready to face us, because I'm going to send you right back to Primary Forest with Kogamon," spat Lucas.

"You think so? Then maybe it's time I put you against my blade."

"So are you saying you have no more black shard Digimon here?" Ayaka asked.

"Yes, I have no more need for such weak tools."

Lucas suddenly realized what Ayaka was trying to get at, so he jumped off the roof, followed by Flamedramon. "Hm, after all that fuss the most eager of you decides to run," Musyamon muttered, "Let us see if the rest of you can provide me some entertainment."

While Musyamon proceeded to fight with his friends, Lucas ran inside the building where Keenan had retreated during the fight and found him looking bored and slightly worried. At the sight of Lucas's bruised face he suddenly looked even more worried. "Lucas, are you okay?"

"The black shards are all gone, and we need you on this one," said Lucas hurriedly.

"What?" Keenan asked, almost in disbelief.

"Do you mean I can digivolve again?" Falcomon asked hopefully.

"Yes! But hurry, we're all tired and we're against a Nightmare Soldier."

"I hope this works," said Keenan, pulling out his digivice.

His hand burst into purple energy, but of a different look to the energy the Digidestined summoned for the Armour Digivolution. This time the energy didn't fade either and Keenan beamed at the sight. "Alright, you ready Falcomon?"

"Always ready."

"D.N.A Charge!" Keenan cried, placing his glowing hand on top of the digivice, causing it to absorb the energy and send it out as a beam towards Falcomon.

"Falcomon digivolve to," began Falcomon as he was engulfed in the energy.

Seconds later when the energy faded Falcomon had become an ostrich-like Digimon with dark purple and black ninja-like clothing, a big busy tail of orange down, and a crest or mane of similar orange down. "Peckmon!" he cried.

"Woah," gasped Lucas, "Alright come on!"

The three dashed back outside to see Flamedramon looking slightly more rested and they quickly returned to the roof, Keenan getting aid from Peckmon, to see Musyamon dueling with Frogmon, while Ayaka and Halsemon circled around looking for an opening. Immediately Flamedramon attacked, hurtling forwards with Fire Rocket. "Shogun Sword!" cried Musyamon, a dragon of flame appearing from his sword that hurled away Frogmon and plowed into Flamedramon.

The fire Digimon seemed to become locked in place with the attack for a moment before the collision of the attacks caused an explosion of energy that sent Flamedramon hurtling into the air, while Musyamon was forced backwards a few feet. Lucas felt the force of the blast too, and was almost pushed over the edge of the roof if it weren't for Keenan catching him. "Thanks bro," said Lucas.

"It's why I'm here," replied Keenan.

Frogmon was just recovering from the daze of being thrown away by the flame dragon, and meanwhile Flamedramon had recovered enough to hurl fireballs from Flame Fist at Musyamon, who parried them with ease. Halsemon took the opportunity to fire Eagle Eye from behind, but Musyamon whirled around in time to deflect one of the beams away, though the other managed to strike his shoulder. The attack seemed to cause no significant injury and Musyamon didn't seem the least bit deterred by it. "Join the fight Peckmon," said Keenan.

"I was wondering why we were waiting. Thousand Beak!" Peckmon charged forwards as hundreds of shadowy clones of him appeared as well.

"Alright! See how you like it!" cried Lucas triumphantly.

The moment Peckmon, and his clones, got within reach of Musyamon they began to peck at him furiously, the surprised samurai hardly even able to destroy one without having to parry twenty pecks simultaneously, and inevitably missing just as many. The Digidestined and their Digimon waited until Peckmon's assault was finished, and the moment the last clone vanished every single one of them cried out their attacks at the same time.

"Boomerang Strike!"

"Yo-Yo Whip!"

"Homerun Strike!"

"Flame Fist!"

"Eagle Eye!"

"Hidden Dagger!"

All these rang out and the tired Musyamon was struck by all of them, sending him reeling. "Such fun," gasped Musyamon, kneeling on the roof, "I haven't had this much fun for a long time. But now," he paused, shakily getting to his feet, "I'll end you. Ninja Blade!"

"Spiral Claw!" Peckmon cried.

The ostrich-like Digimon spun and kicked as Musyamon approached with his flaming sword. Peckmon's foot drove right into the samurai Digimon's body, after which Musyamon froze for a moment before exploding into hundreds of tiny flakes that vanished upwards. "And it's done," said Peckmon, "There goes his data."

Lucas and Ayaka sighed, sounding almost sad. They didn't like the thought of what they'd had to do, but when they remembered why they looked at each other and smiled. "Thanks Keenan, thanks Peckmon," Lucas said, "You guys are the coolest."

"And that, little bro, is how a true Champion-level Digimon fights," said Keenan, leaning against Peckmon.

"You've gotten much heavier since you were ten," Peckmon said, "Nothing I can't handle though. It's good to digivolve again."

"And that should keep the village safe," added Lucas, hopping down off the roof with Flamedramon.

"It should," Ayaka said, joining him.

The rest of the group joined them as the Gekomon and Otamamon appeared from their hiding spots. "Did you guys stop the attack?" asked one of the Gekomon.

"Hey! You're the jerk who yelled at me," Lucas cried.

"Lucas, stop being rude," said Kenji.

"But-"

"Just stop. And apologize, you're being a jerk yourself right now."

"Fine, I'm sorry," Lucas said to the Gekomon.

"Yeah well... I'm sorry about earlier too," replied the Gekomon, "But since you saved our town and everything, you wanna know where the Dragon Shrine is right?"

"Yeah," the kids said together.

"Then you'll want to talk to ShogunGekomon, he's our leader. Just go to the big building on the far side of town, you can't miss it."

"Really? Thanks man!" cried Lucas, "And sorry about earlier."

"Don't mention it kid."

A short time later the group stood outside the outer wall of a large castle, all their Digimon back to normal. The castle that peaked over the wall reminded them quite a lot of Himeji Castle, and a Gekomon stood there who guided them through the gardens and into the throne room. Even the interior was a lot like genuine feudal Japanese buildings, and it almost took physical force to prevent Ayaka from trying to investigate and explore.

Then at last they were in the throne room and before them sat a very large, and rather fat, Digimon with a similar frog-like appearance to the Gekomon and featured two of the brass horns instead of one, one over each shoulder. There was also a ring of leaves around his thick neck and a long tube coming out the back of his head tipped with purple feelers of some kind. There was also a pair of feelers on his upper lip, much like a moustache. "So, you're the humans who saved my village?" ShogunGekomon asked with a deep voice.

"That's us!" cried Lucas, "Though Keenan and Falcomon here did the honours in getting rid of Musyamon."

"Keenan and Falcomon? You don't mean the delusional little human Merukimon adopted do you?" ShogunGekomon asked with surprise.

"Hey! I'm not delusional," said Keenan indignantly. "Well, maybe a little bit, but that was a long time ago."

"Oh dear, my apologies," the large Digimon said, "I was just… well I have no excuses. I always found it odd that Merukimon would stoop so low as to raise a human to believe he was a Digimon warrior."

"I feel like Merukimon wasn't popular here," Kenji said.

"Of course not! Hundreds of years ago that giant oaf came here and said our sacred Dragon Shrine was off limits to us by order of Yggdrasil. This was during my great-grandfather's time of course, but we have never forgotten the indignation! Here in the eastern hemisphere of the Digital World there is only one true ruler, and the Dragon Shrine is the only place you can meet him."

Keenan was still looking angry at the way his foster father was being addressed, but Lucas could see he was beginning to look curious as well. "So can you tell us how to get to the Dragon Shrine?" Lucas asked.

"I'll do you one better, I'll give you a guide to show you the way. Betamon!"

A small, green Digimon looking like a fish with legs, a vaguely frog-like mouth with sharp teeth and a large red fin on its back appeared from a nearby room. "Yes ShogunGekomon?" the Digimon asked.

"Guide these humans and their Digimon to the Dragon Shrine, and don't let them come to any harm. Is that understood?"

"It sure is ShogunGekomon," Betamon replied. "Follow me guys," he added, turning to the Digidestined and then skittering through one of the passageways nearby.

"If I could speak to the yellow haired one for just a moment," ShogunGekomon said as the group followed Betamon, "Don't worry, I'm simply curious about something."

"Go on ahead," urged Lucas to his friends, "I don't think this'll take long."

His friends didn't give much argument, though they looked like they wanted to, and moved on ahead while Lucas lingered in the throne room with Veemon. A couple minutes later Lucas rejoined his friends, looking both shocked and pleased. When asked what happened he simply said it was secret and shortly afterwards Betamon led them out of the palace to look over a stretch of verdant woodland with a building of some kind on the horizon. "And this is the way to the Dragon Shrine," Betamon said, "I hope you're ready for a walk."

"I could run this, but I'd leave everyone behind," bragged Lucas, "Except Veemon of course."

"Sure you could," replied Kenji, "But either way we can't stand here all day."

"Yup! Onwards Digidestined!" cried Lucas, after which they began following Betamon down the hill and into the forest.

**End Episode**


	7. Episode 7

**Episode 7**

"Are we there yet?" Lucas asked Betamon as they strode through the forest.

"No."

"Are we there yet?" he asked again five minutes later.

"No! Are all humans as annoying as you!?" Betamon asked angrily.

"Nope, that's just Lucas," quipped Kenji.

They'd been walking for about an hour now, and had yet to see anything other than forest, though Betamon assured them the Dragon Shrine wasn't too far now. Lucas was getting impatient either way and would rather run ahead; except he needed Betamon's guidance and he didn't want to leave his friends behind either, of course.

"How about a story to keep you entertained?" suggested Betamon, "None of Merukimon's lapdogs would have heard this one either, so it'll be interesting to everyone."

Lucas felt sure that the last comment was directed at Keenan and Falcomon, and their expressions said that they felt the same way. "Sure why not," said Lucas with a shrug.

"Alright, this is the Tale of the Harmonious Ones. Once upon a time, long, long ago the Digital World's creator, the program called Yggdrasil, was still pure and good intentioned. It had just created the Digital World and sought to create those who could maintain the land while it observed; for it feared its own power and believed it best to watch its world, and not interfere. So it created the Harmonious Four, Digimon of power almost equal to its own to keep a closer and more protective role in maintaining the Digital World. One was assigned to each of the four hemispheres of the Digital World. These hemispheres are designated by two ley lines, of sorts, that circle the planet diagonally and form an 'X' where they cross.

"The first of these Digimon was a black turtle who was assigned to the North and given mastery of the element of water. The second was a vermilion bird who was assigned to the South and granted utmost control over fire. The third was an azure dragon that was placed here in the East and granted the power of nature. Finally the fourth was a white tiger with the power of metal that was placed in the West. Together they ruled the Digital World for millennia in an era of peace, but it was not to last.

"Nobody is sure why, but shortly after the arrival, and defeat, of the Seven Demon Lords, Yggdrasil suddenly began to interfere much more in the affairs of the Digital World. It began to do something to get rid of the Harmonious Ones, while replacing them with new Digimon. These Digimon were weaker, but were created to serve Yggdrasil unquestioningly as governors. One of the first things they commanded was that the shrines were off limits, and so ages went by and the Harmonious Ones were forgotten, while Yggdrasil became more and more a tyrant, as did his minions."

"Merukimon was _not_ a tyrant!" Keenan protested, speaking almost immediately after Betamon finished.

"He prevented us from going to our shrine, he served Yggdrasil unquestioningly and he demanded the same from his subjects. He was the one who did nothing but further provoke the war between humans and Digimon, and thanks to his line of thinking Yggdrasil ended up endangering the very world it created, and us with it," Betamon replied, "I don't care if he did raise you, he was still a monster. Besides from what I've heard he was going to kill you if Frigimon hadn't convinced him otherwise."

"But Merukimon realized his mistakes! He sacrificed himself so me and the DATS field team could go home and stop Kurada," argued Keenan.

"Plus the fact he actually listened to Frigimon and accepted her judgment is the sign of a compromising leader, not a tyrannical one," added Ayaka.

"Fine, so maybe he had _some_ redeeming qualities, but he was still a jerk," argued Betamon stubbornly.

"I think that's the best you're gonna get Keenan," Lucas said to his brother quietly, "At least for now."

Keenan sighed, but agreed. Meanwhile Ayaka hoped to turn the topic away from the conflicting political views, "You know that story," Ayaka began, "Reminds me of the Four Guardians of Kyoto, which is the Japanese version of the Four Celestial Beasts of Chinese myth."

For once it wasn't just Lucas who was left dumbfounded, but all the kids and Digimon present; even Hawkmon. The thing was Ayaka liked it when this happened, because she liked sharing her knowledge with others. "Well the people of ancient China believed their land was protected by four guardian beasts; Qinglong the Azure Dragon of the East, Zhuque the Vermillion Bird of the South, Baihu the White Tiger of the West, and Xuanwu the Black Tortoise of the North. In Japan they guarded Kyoto and were named Seiryu, Suzaku, Byakko and Genbu."

"I think my grandpa told me that once actually," Kenji said.

"Well all of this is news to me," said Keenan.

"Me too," added Lucas.

"Somehow I think everyone expected that," said Veemon.

"Shut up Veemon."

"I remember the Harmonious Ones," said Veemon, "The arrival of the Olympus Twelve was big news when we went to sleep. But my memories are still a little fuzzy from then."

"I'm the same," Armadillomon said, "Sometimes it feels like just yesterday…"

"… And sometimes it feels like just some dream from years ago," finished Hawkmon, "That's suspended animation for you I guess."

"But the biggest question is," Lucas began, "Are we there yet Betamon?"

"Actually Lucas, yes," Betamon said with a grin, gesturing ahead of them towards the building they had seen from a distance.

Up close they saw that, despite being somewhat large, it didn't differ too much from some of the ancient shrines in Japan. It was open aired, and consisted simply of a large, square stone platform with stairs on each side and a torii at the top of each and azure in colour. The group ran ahead and climbed the stairs, with Betamon now hurrying to catch up. The humans and their Digimon made it to the top of the steps easily, but Betamon was having trouble climbing the steps with his stubby legs. "Don't worry I got'cha," Lucas called, dashing back down the steps and carrying Betamon up to the top.

"Thanks bud," the Digimon said.

"No problem!"

"So what do we do now?" Ayaka asked.

The shrine was largely barren, save for a wooden statue of a coiling dragon in the center with branches growing off it and, oddly, what seemed to be a miniature thunder storm enshrouding it. "I say we use the D-Phone," Lucas said, "It seems to have solved problems for us before."

"Seeing as this is a rare example of Lucas thinking, I think I agree," Kenji added, ignoring Lucas' sudden glare.

"Agreed."

The Digidestined ran up to the statue while Keenan, Falcomon and Betamon stayed behind. Lucas, Ayaka and Kenji all held up their D-Phones, with the screens pointed at the statue. As they'd somewhat expected the screens suddenly glowed bright and shot a bolt of light into the statue. The statue then glowed for a moment before shooting a beam of light into the sky.

Out of nowhere gray storm clouds gathered around where the beam had went up. They weren't particularly ominous though, just the colour of normal storm clouds. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked and then, from the storm clouds, appeared a massive head. It was draconic, and looked more like a helmet than a fleshy head. It was long, ending with spikes at the back and rounding out at the front, with a massive lightning bolt shaped blade-like horn. The helmet, or head, was largely navy blue as a base colour, with a yellow pattern across it like bolts of electricity. Most notable was the long, white beard and moustache that fluttered down from the rounded front of the helmet.

Behind the helmet came a long, snake-like body that seemed to be composed of dense mist, and was wrapped in chains. As the massive Digimon dove and ascended through the clouds the spectators also saw four talons with three claws on each, one of them curling around from the back, and each of these talons had three blue orbs rotating them. "Those are Digi-Cores," gasped Keenan, "They're like the souls of Digimon. Most have only one, and it's inside their body."

"And he has twelve," finished Falcomon, sounding equally as awed, "Plus he must have a thirteenth inside."

The massive, misty dragon also possessed five pairs of wings, each gently flapping as he dove through the clouds. His tail they didn't realize _was_ a tail to begin with, as it looked more like a bolt of lightning, then they saw the ends of chains around the base and realized it was part of the Digimon. And when at last it came to a stop its head hovered some distance over the shrine, and it looked down at the Digidestined with four red eyes, two on each side, each one fierce, but kind and wise. "Greetings Digidestined and Son of Merukimon, I am Azulongmon, the Guardian of the Eastern Hemisphere of the Digital World," the Digimon said, its voice powerful and commanding, but still sounding kind and compassionate as well; the voice of a wise ruler.

All the humans, and the Digimon for that matter, were struck speechless at the majesty of the being above them. Even Keenan, who had grown up around Merukimon, felt as though his foster father was but an ant compared to this mighty Digimon. Truly the only being whom Keenan had met who was greater was Yggdrasil itself. Lucas on the other hand was in awe of the epitome of wisdom and leadership above him, and he felt humbled before Azulongmon, which wasn't an easy thing to do. "Well Lucas," whispered Ayaka, nudging him in the ribs, "You're the leader, I think you're up."

"Y-yeah," muttered Lucas in response and taking a single step forwards.

After a slight pause to work up his courage Lucas spoke again, "Lord Azulongmon, I am Lucas Uchida, leader of the Digidestined and partner of Veemon. My friends and teammates are Ayaka Kojima, partner of Hawkmon, and Kenji Fujita the partner of Armadillomon. And of course Keenan Crier, former servant of Merukimon, former temporary member of the human organization DATS, partner of Falcomon and my brother."

"The introductions are unnecessary, but appreciated. I believe you come bearing questions that you wish to have answered," Azulongmon replied, "Is that correct?"

"Yes sir," answered Lucas, "Cherrymon of the Primary Forest directed us here."

"Ah yes Cherrymon, I knew he would not make me regret my decision to trust him. Very well, if it is answers you seek, then I shall give them."

"If I could go first," Keenan said, approaching the group and looking up at Azulongmon, "I want to know more about you, and… I want to know if Merukimon was your enemy."

"Ah, of course you heard the stories of the Shogun Village. Let me start by saying that their stories, while correct in the basics, are slightly exaggerative of the Olympian Twelve's role."

At this Betamon seemed to shrink behind the post of the torii, but Azulongmon paid him no mind, and in fact sounded almost amused as he mentioned it. "My brothers and I are the Digimon Sovereigns," Azulongmon continued, "We presided over the Digital World in its Golden Age, and were created by Yggdrasil itself for that purpose. The Demon Lords War ended the Golden Age; when the greatest of all Angel Digimon, Lucemon, was corrupted by a virus. He led the Nightmare Soldiers and his six mightiest companions in a campaign to conquer the Digital World, and we fought back.

"The war was won, but for some reason Yggdrasil began to act differently after that. It became more direct, more brutal and more strict. It began to make decisions that benefitted itself over the Digital World. It even began to slowly supress our power, and it created the Olympian Twelve to rule in our place. It even went as far as to imprison us within our shrines, and it ordered the Olympian Twelve to stamp out any memory of our existence.

"As we began to feel Yggdrasil turn on us, we knew that it had become corrupted for whatever reason. We knew that its attitude would only foster virus Digimon, not diminish them, and we predicted a time when the source of its corruption would become clear. So we created the original digivice, what you call the D-Phone, and we sealed away special Digimon with enshrined Armour Eggs. These Digimon, of course, are the ones standing with you right now.

"However Keenan, we do not consider the Olympian Twelve our enemies. In fact they are our allies. They are the ones who broke the seals on us Sovereigns, and Merukimon especially was frequently rebellious towards Yggdrasil. Your step-father wanted a fair, balanced, and just Digital World, and he did not approve of Yggdrasil's methods. You know that he even went as far as to sacrifice himself so that this goal could be achieved. All Digimon owe him a great debt, and we Sovereigns owe the Olympian Twelve as a whole our gratitude and our allegiance. Does that satisfy you?"

"It does," said Keenan, smiling, "Thank you Lord Azulongmon."

"What Yggdrasil did is all in the past," Lucas said, "Marcus purified it and the DATS team stopped Kurada and reconfigured Belphemon, and now you guys are back. But things are already getting messed up again. What do you know about the Digimon Harbinger, sir?"

"The obvious question, yes that is very much like you Lucas, and you are right to ask it. Unfortunately I don't know much more than you, but I will tell what I do.

"The Digimon Harbinger is a human boy who first appeared in the Digital World about three years ago. He moved and acted like a DATS member, and had an aura similar to a Digidestined's. He was partnered with a Kuramon and he turned away all friendly greetings. It even seemed that tales of violence followed in his wake; stories of Digimon who became monstrous and cruel wherever he went.

"We discovered the Black Shards about eighteen months later; solidified shards of darkness. Somehow they are linked to the Harbinger and allow him to have complete and utter control of those embedded with one. Not only that, but the shards prevent all natural Digivolution within their vicinity. This is the danger for which we prepared the Armour Eggs so long ago. They are an external power source for digivolution, beyond a Digimon's own will and the DNA of a human.

"It would seem, however, that the Black Shards are a double-edged sword. They prevent all Digimon from Digivolving, even those willingly in league with the Harbinger, save for natural Digivolving through growth. To that end I believe he is searching for an artifact known as the Catalyst; an ancient device that can drastically increase the speed of digivolution. If you seek to stop him Lucas, then I would suggest you search for that artifact."

"Understood Lord Azulongmon," replied Lucas.

He nudged Ayaka to indicate it was her turn and she stood rigid and nervous. "Go on," he whispered to her, "He doesn't bite."

"And I'm here with you," Hawkmon added.

Ayaka nodded and, after another brief hesitation asked her question, "What are the D-Phones and how do they work?" she asked.

"The D-Phones are a form of digivice, but much more powerful than the devices that Spencer Damon created, or even the Burst variety that the DATS field members obtained. In fact they are somewhat similar to Digimon in their construction, except they were only made complete by being merged with real-world technology. We Sovereigns sensed that the time for their use was at hand, so we sent them to you, the Digidestined, where they became complete.

"As you have also discovered, the process of acquiring a D-Phone also modifies your bodies so that they are faster, tougher and stronger than those of other humans. You have also discovered that the D-Phones each contain a weapon for personal defense, and I am sure you have also noticed the change in clothes. These are all parts of the power of the D-Phone; to allow each Digidestined to truly fight alongside their Digimon partner. I was quite surprised, however, to find that Lucas' D-Phone adapted Keenan's boomerang for this purpose."

"What's so special about these clothes?" Ayaka asked.

"They are made of fibres with a strength nearly on par with Chrome Digizoid, one of the Digital World's strongest metals. They also allow for ease of movement, and are styled differently for each wearer. Lucas' goggles however are simply the mark of the Leader of the Digidestined.

"As to the rest of the functions of the D-Phone; there are a multitude of applications that will reveal themselves to you when they are needed. What they are and what they require to appear are for you to discover, not for me to tell you. There are also, as you have ascertained young Ayaka, a multitude of voice commands that also feature into its operation. Just like the applications they are up to you to discover, but I will offer one hint; if an application carries a voice command then you will find the latter within the former."

"Thank you Lord Azulongmon, I'll keep that in mind," said Ayaka.

"Your turn Kenji," said Lucas, slapping his friend on the back.

"That used to hurt a lot more before we got the D-Phone," Kenji said. "My question… why us? Since this started I've been wondering why specifically us? There're hundreds of kids in the world, so why us? I've been wondering this since I first got my D-Phone, and I have to be honest about what I'm thinking, and I want an honest answer."

"Yes Kenji, that is the question you would ask, and it's one I believe your friends have been wondering too, has it not?" Azulongmon asked, and the looks on the other kids' faces confirmed that he was right. "The Digidestined were chosen long ago by a prophecy that my brother Ebonwumon experienced. He foresaw three humans and their Digimon partners, and so we waited until the day that they would be needed, and when that day came, my brother had us send out the D-Phones. I do not know what precisely designated you three, but perhaps it has something to do with the events of five years ago. Perhaps you had specific encounters with Digimon."

"Oh!" Lucas cried with surprise, "I did have one! It was so brief that I forgot about it, but it was Falcomon."

"Me? It must have been brief then, because I don't remember meeting you," replied Falcomon.

"I was only five at the time. I was out shopping with my mom when I saw this really sad looking boy walk by, and when I went to try and talk to him I tripped and then you came along and helped me up. You didn't say anything, you were just there and gone. My mom didn't see you, and you were gone before I could say thanks."

"That was the day I ran away from Marcus' house," Keenan said.

"Yes I remember now," added Falcomon, "Who'd have thought you were that little kid?"

"I think I had a meeting like that too," Ayaka added, "I once saw this yellow dinosaur with wrist braces. He asked me if I knew a shortcut to the Damon house, and I said I didn't. That was it."

"I met Dr. Norstein's Digimon," said Kenji, "I was taking refuge in the airport when the Digital World appeared in the sky. I remember a blue dog with boxing gloves helping me into the building. I thought it was just part of a crazy dream or something."

"And there you have it," said Azulongmon, "It would seem you were marked as Digidestined by encounters with the Digimon of the DATS team, as I am sure you will find each of their members had some connection to the discovery team of fifteen years ago. I suspect detecting these kinds of links are an ancillary function of Yggdrasill, one that it performs involuntarily. After all, it could not sever the links between humans and Digimon, perhaps because they are a function of itself. I am afraid of those such matters you would be best speaking to Ebonwumon, the Guardian of the North if you want concrete answers."

"No, I'm satisfied with yours," replied Kenji.

"Very well. I must bid you farewell soon, the job of a Sovereign is a busy one. Allow me to leave you with some final words of advice. First of all your primary goal should be to find the Catalyst before the Harbinger does, and keep it out of his hands. Second of all; you cannot defeat the Harbinger as you are now. He commands the might of the Black Shards and the Nightmare Soldiers. Fear not, however, for there are more Armour Eggs to be obtained than just the ones you possess now. To be precise there are nine in total, three of which you currently possess. To obtain the next three you must seek out each of my Deva, my highest servants, and pass the trials they lay before you. This should be your immediate goal. I am sure ShogunGekomon can point you in the right direction."

"So get the Armour Eggs, find the Catalyst, and kick the Digimon Harbinger's butt," Lucas summarized, "Let's get started then!"

"One moment more Lucas," said Azulongmon, "While I did tell you that discovering the wonders of the D-Phone is your task, I will offer you some small assistance. Please present them for a moment."

The three Digidestined held out their D-Phones in front of them and Azulongmon launched a miniature spark from the tip of his horn which seemed to be absorbed by the digivices. When they looked at the screen they saw an application appear titled 'Voice Cmd. Archive'. "This application will record any voice commands you discover, and all that you have discovered thus far. It should make your work a little easier. Now I must bid you all farewell for now."

Azulongmon began to dive through the clouds again, coiling and moving away from them. "Farewell Digidestined," he called, "Farewell and good luck!"

Then Azulongmon was gone and the clouds cleared away as though they had never been. Almost immediately the kids collapsed to the ground and sighed with exhaustion. For a time they were simply silent as they took in everything they'd heard. Even Keenan seemed too tired to speak. The one who _did_ end up speaking first was actually Betamon, who they had almost forgotten about. "It would seem, Keenan, that we in Shogun Village owe you an apology," he said, "We had no idea the Olympian Twelve were so devoted to the Digital World's balance, especially Merukimon. So let me just say I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," replied Keenan with a smile. "Try to tell the rest of the village to forgive the Olympian Twelve as well. We should all be united, not fighting against one another. Marcus and Thomas taught me that."

"So we need to find the rest of our Armour Eggs, then find Marcus and then the Catalyst," said Lucas, "This job just keeps getting bigger and bigger."

"But loads more fun," Veemon added.

"Totally!" replied Lucas, jumping to his feet, "But a big racetrack is still big. Either way let's get going. Azulongmon said we have to find his Deva, and that's what we're gonna do."

"We have to get Keenan home first," Kenji said.

"I'm the oldest and you treat me like a kid," said Keenan as they began to follow Betamon back.

"You know couldn't we just ride Peckmon and Halsemon to cut down on travel time?" asked Lucas.

"Um… why didn't I think of that?" Falcomon said.

"Lucas appears to be on a roll today," added Hawkmon.

"I told you; I'm not as dumb as I look," said Lucas.

"But you're also not as smart as you think," quipped Kenji.

"I don't think I'm that smart, I'm just not stupid," Lucas replied, "Ayaka's the really smart one."

"Th-thanks Lucas," said Ayaka with a blush. "Let's go Hawkmon. Digi-Armour Energize!"

"And you Falcomon," Keenan added, "DNA Charge!"

A few seconds later Keenan, Lucas, Veemon and Betamon mounted Peckmon's back and Ayaka, Kenji and Armadillomon rode Halsemon as they dashed back through the forest. With their help the journey went by much quicker and soon they were back at Shogun Village and slipping back into the palace.

"We're back ShogunGekomon," Betamon announced as they entered the throne room.

"Ah ha! Welcome back little Betamon!" the frog-like Digimon yelled, "And welcome back Digidestined."

"We made it to the Dragon Shrine and we met Azulongmon," explained Lucas, "He was way beyond what I expected."

"Then I'm sure you got the answers you wanted."

"Yeah, but he said to ask you about where we could find his Deva," added Kenji.

"And beyond being his servants, what _are_ Deva anyways?" asked Ayaka.

"Well I believe I can answer that question for you. The Deva are a group of twelve Ultimate-level Digimon who were selected by the Sovereigns to serve as their most elite servants. Three Deva are devoted specifically to each Sovereign. Azulongmon's Deva are Mihiramon, Antylamon and Majiramon. Of their locations, I only know the general location of Mihiramon. In the mountains to the north-west there's a town known as Lightning Village, though I'm not sure why. Mihiramon is said to be somewhere near there."

"Lightning Village," muttered Ayaka, recording the name in her D-Phone, "Got it."

"I wish we could head out right now," said Lucas, "But I guess we do gotta get home."

"Then farewell my new friends, and may the Dragon guide you!" ShogunGekomon boomed.

The Digidestined showed themselves out of the palace, and then the village itself. All four of them were exhausted; between the battles with Musyamon, the hike to the Dragon Shrine, and the talk with Azulongmon, they were all drained. "You know guys," began Keenan suddenly, "Besides your Armour Eggs and the Catalyst; we also need to find Marcus and Agumon. And I'm sure Thomas would like us to find his partner, Gaomon, as well."

"That was the blue dog with boxing gloves right?" asked Kenji.

"Right."

"But even if we find him, Dr. Norstein lives in Austria," Ayaka pointed out, "We couldn't just send a Digimon on an international flight."

"We'll worry about that part when we come to it," Lucas said, "Keenan's right. Finding our Armour Eggs is important, but so is finding the rest of our friends. If our becoming Digidestined is because we met DATS Digimon, then we owe them even more."

"You're right Lucas," Kenji said after a pause, "But I'm too exhausted to focus on anything other than going home."

"Me too," agreed Ayaka.

"Yeah I could use a rest too I guess," admitted Lucas. "I suppose this is as good a spot as any."

They were in the forest now and Lucas quickly summoned up a Digi-Port. Seconds later they were back in the Crier's living room in a pile on the floor. "Why do I always end up on the bottom of these?" asked Lucas bitterly, "And with Keenan on top."

"At least you're not on top of Veemon," said Keenan as they untangled themselves, "Those little spikes on his back are more painful than they look."

"Keenan!" cried Mrs. Crier joyfully, hugging him the moment he was on his feet.

The kids had been too busy getting untangled to notice that the Crier living room was currently in use. It seemed that Mrs. Crier had been waiting expectantly for the computer to glow, and had been watching TV with Ruka to pass the time. And while Mrs. Crier fussed over Keenan, Ruka seemed more interested in what had just happened. "Woah! That was cool!" she cried.

"How is ending up tangled on the floor cool?" asked Lucas.

"Noooo! I mean coming out of the computer!"

"Oh, yeah I guess," he replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Thanks Ruka, but I need to get home," Kenji said, "See ya guys!"

"Me too," added Ayaka, "Don't make your brother work too much okay Ruka? He's had a long day."

"I won't Aya!" Ruka replied cheerily.

"And Lucas, try not to push yourself. You're more tired than you think," she added, almost pleadingly.

Lucas didn't know why she was acting like this, she seemed almost like she was begging him. She seemed so concerned though that he felt like he had no choice but to assure her he was fine. "Don't worry Ayaka, I'll try and take it easy," he said.

"Alright, then I'll see you later," she said, and for a moment Lucas thought she was going to hug him, before she simply headed for the door.

"What was that about?" he asked with confusion.

"She just doesn't want you to hurt yourself," said Keenan.

"Well the Armour Egg of Love goes to the most caring person," added Veemon, "So there you are."

Lucas hadn't really thought of it before, but Ayaka really did act almost motherly at times, and definitely was always the first of them to show compassion for others. Whether it be staying with him when he broke his ankle while Kenji got help, or comforting a kid who was looking for their parents, she was always caring and comforting. It was something he'd grown used to, but he didn't realize how truly grateful he was for it. Now that Keenan and Veemon had pointed it out, Lucas definitely didn't want to cause Ayaka any unnecessary worry.

He kept this in mind as he walked home. There were a lot of things he wanted to do, and he felt sure he had a second wind in him, but the way Ayaka had been acting made him feel like he should really honour his agreement. "Still thinkin' about Ayaka?" asked Veemon, noticing his silence.

"Yeah," replied Lucas, "I've never seen her so concerned before."

"It's just cause we're pooped from getting thrown around by Kogamon," said Veemon with a shrug, "You _did_ fly off the roof."

"Oh yeah… but I really want to do something besides just go home," Lucas replied.

"Well look at it like this; if brainiac Ayaka says you should take it easy, then you should probably take it easy. Pretty obvious."

Lucas grinned, "You're right. Guess we're both having a good day."

"Yeah, sometimes I can be smart too. And you'll have your buddy Veemon to keep you company, so it won't be boring."

"Yeah you're right. Here's to a night of taking it easy then," said Lucas, raising his hand.

Veemon high-fived him in agreement, and it was only then that they both realized that Lucas had forgotten to put Veemon back into the D-Phone. Luckily they hadn't gone too far from the Crier's yet, and hadn't encountered too many people. Either way they took the moment to get Veemon downloaded, and the Digimon gladly took the opportunity to get off his feet. "You know it really is cozy in here," Veemon said as they walked, "And I don't have to walk."

"Well luckily you don't make the D-Phone any heavier. Though maybe I should call my mom for a ride," Lucas replied.

"Someone call for a ride?" said a voice that Lucas recognized as Officer Fujieda's.

He looked around the side street he was on and saw Officer Fujieda standing just in front of him, leaning against a car, but wearing her uniform. "Officer Fujieda!" he cried with surprise, "What're you doing here?"

"I live here," she said, pointing to a house across the road, "Or at least I do now. Megumi, Miki and I all decided to chip in; it's better than the apartment I've been living in… but you don't want to hear about my grown-up problems do you."

"Not really, no," replied Lucas.

"Well you could be a little nicer about it, but you're adorable so I'll let it slide," Officer Fujieda said, "And call me Yoshi."

"Okay, uh, Yoshi. You mentioned a ride."

"Yup, I was just about to head out on duty and I wouldn't mind giving you a lift home. Oh and here's Lalamon."

She held out her digivice and Lalamon showed on the screen. "Hi Lucas, hi Veemon," the Digimon said cheerily.

"Hey Lalamon! Guess what? Falcomon got to digivolve today," Veemon said, "He was awesome!"

"Sounds like there's a story to tell, come on Lucas let's get you home," Yoshi said, opening the passenger door for him.

Lucas got into the car while Yoshi began driving. It wasn't that big a walk from Keenan's to his place, about forty-five minutes if he took the right shortcuts, and he was usually able to get a bus ride in. But he was tired, and it was better if he simply let Yoshi drive him, and besides that it gave him a chance to try and catch her up on the day's events.

By car it only took about twenty-five minutes to get home, but Lucas was a quick storyteller, and Yoshi even waited a few extra minutes outside his house so he could finish. When at last he had she ruffled his hair affectionately, and said "Sounds like you've all been through a lot today. No wonder you look so beat."

"It's fine," replied Lucas as he got out of the car, "Remember to tell the others what I told you. Thanks for the ride Yoshi!"

With that he dashed into the house, and was met with his mom running to hug him. "Lucas! You shouldn't be out so late, especially on a school night," she scolded gently.

"Aw mom, way to ruin my good mood," replied Lucas, "I was gonna have a night of relaxing."

"Well you can still relax with school tomorrow, you do it all the time," his mom assured, "Dinner will be ready in a bit, so you and Veemon can go and play. Just don't go into the Digital World."

"Don't worry, I'm done with the Digital World for today."

And that was it for the day. Lucas and Veemon relaxed, ate, and had fun. And by the time they went to bed, Lucas was thinking more about breakfast than school. "Hey Lucas?" Veemon asked as they began to doze off.

"Yeah?"

"What do you think the other Armour Eggs will do?"

"No idea. We'll just have to find out."

And with those words they drifted off to sleep.

**End Episode**


	8. Episode 8

**Episode 8**

"Hey Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!" repeated Veemon impatiently and shaking his friend as he slept, "It's Saturday, the day we agreed to go find the next Armour Egg, so come on and wake up already!"

"Veemon," grumbled Lucas angrily, "Shut your beak or I'll shut it for you."

Lucas sat up and gave such an angry glare that Veemon shrank back. "You know what… I think I'll let you sleep a bit longer," he said quickly and nervously before dashing out the door.

The moment he'd done so, Lucas fell back to sleep and outside Veemon slumped down against the wall to think of something to do. "Boy, he sure gets angry when you wake him up," Veemon muttered to himself.

It wasn't as early as the day he and Lucas had their fight, but it seemed soccer and parkour and the multitude of other activities he did really tired him out. Even with his enhanced body. In fact Veemon had noticed that it seemed to make things worse, as people noticed his greater physical abilities they were raising their expectations of him and demanding more out of him. "I kinda feel bad for the guy now I think about it," Veemon muttered as he walked down to the living room, "But the only thing he doesn't seem to like about it is when I wake him up, so I guess I really do just have to let him sleep. It's sure boring without him though."

"I hear my little Digimon," said Mrs. Uchida's voice from the kitchen as he walked down the stairs.

"Oh, hey mom," Veemon said, walking into the kitchen.

"You're not still feeling awkward about calling me 'mom' are you?" she asked.

"Well… maybe just a little."

"Don't be," Mrs. Uchida replied with a giggle, "You're a part of our family, so you don't have to feel strange about treating us as such. I was just in the middle of making breakfast, would you like something?"

"Yes please, you're cooking is the best!"

"Thank you Veemon."

A short time later Veemon, Mrs. Uchida and her husband, who had gotten up in that time, were eating. "You know Veemon," Mr. Uchida said, "It's been really great having you here, despite how odd it was at first. And I don't think I've ever seen Lucas so happy."

"He seems like a guy who's always happy to me," Veemon replied.

"Oh he definitely is," Mrs. Uchida said, "He's always been very spirited and energetic, but most of the time he liked to do things alone, mostly because he couldn't find anyone to do them with him."

"Really? He seems so popular at school."

"Popularity doesn't guarantee friendships. Most people were interested in his looks or putting his energy into sports. Few people wanted to get to know him personally, or spend time with him outside school," explained Mr. Uchida, "Of course there was Ayaka and Kenji who've been friends with him since kindergarten, but as you know neither of them quite shares his ideas of fun, but they do at least like him for who he is. They bicker and tease him, but they've never left him."

"What about Keenan?" asked Veemon.

"He met Keenan shortly after the other two, and I think he took a shine to him because their ideas of fun match more, not to mention Keenan looks out for him."

"Which is something we're extremely grateful for as well," Mrs. Uchida added.

"But Keenan can't be available all the time, he has a family of his own after all," Mr. Uchida continued, "Up until, well, until you came here actually Veemon, Lucas would complain on almost a semi-daily basis that he was bored and wanted Keenan to do something. It wasn't so bad when Keenan was younger, but as he's gotten older he's obviously taken on more responsibility. So Lucas, while happy, often ended up rather bored.

"Then you came along, and I haven't heard Lucas complain once about being bored. It's like he has a twin brother now. You even share his love of pranks, which Lucas seems to enjoy more now as well."

"I haven't had to empty his bag once since you showed up Veemon," Mrs. Uchida added again, "I think the quality outweighs the quantity now. It's more fun pulling one prank with you, than ten alone."

"Well," Veemon began proudly, "The job of a Digimon with a human partner is to make their partner happy! And I'm gonna keep doing it."

"So my job would be to make you happy then, right buddy?" asked Lucas, appearing in the doorway, "Hey mom, hey dad."

"Did you hear all that?" Lucas' dad asked.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep too much longer so I got up and heard you guys talking. I know it was eavesdropping, but I didn't want to interrupt."

"Oh it's fine honey," his mom replied, hugging him, "Do you want some breakfast?"

"Yeah, thanks mom. So if it's our job to make each other happy Veemon, then I'm sorry I snapped at you for waking me up," Lucas added.

"Thanks, and I'm sorry for waking you up. Your coach asks a lot of you and you need your rest."

"Thanks buddy. Now let's cut the mush and get ready for a day of Armour Egg hunting!"

"You bet!" Veemon cheered.

And with that Lucas began eating, with the two adults exchanging amused looks at the similarities between the Digimon and their son.

(())

About an hour later Lucas was knocking on the Krier door, with Veemon outside the D-Phone, having been let out a few seconds earlier. Keenan's house was large, and surrounded by forest. It wasn't actually as much in the country as it seemed, and the short dirt road that lead to it quickly lead back into the city. It was telling that it was close enough for Keenan to walk to school, and meet up with Kristy and himself along the way. Either way it always felt tranquil to Lucas, and there were plenty of trees to climb which he also enjoyed.

The door was answered by Keenan himself who was looking as cheerful as usual, with Falcomon by his side who was as polite as ever. "Come on in guys, I was just playing with Ruka," Keenan said.

"Playing what?" asked Lucas curiously.

"Video games."

The moment Lucas and Veemon walked in though, Ruka dropped what she was doing and rushed over to them happily. "Lucas! Veemon! Wanna play with us!?" she asked.

"Hey, she got our names right," Veemon pointed out simply.

"Sure Ruka, I've got some time before the others show up."

Lucas took up a controller and saw the game was a fighting game featuring Digimon, much to his surprise. "A Digimon fighting game?"

"Yeah, it's dad's latest creation," explained Keenan, "In fact it was the one you said you would test the day you decided to run off to the Digital World instead."

"Oh, sorry."

"It's fine. There're still a lot of bugs, which is part of why we're playing."

"I was pink," Falcomon muttered bitterly.

"Hee hee, that was funny," added Ruka.

The three of them got to playing, with the Digimon watching, until the doorbell ringing signalled the arrival of the other two Digidestined. To their surprise they also brought Kristy and Biyomon. "Kristy! What're you doing here?" asked Keenan with surprise.

"I want to come with you into the Digital World," she said, "You're going with them today too right?"

"Yeah, we have to look for the rest of the Armour Eggs," explained Keenan.

"Exactly, you're looking for those things when you're supposed to be looking for Marcus," said Kristy.

"We will, but Azulongmon told us to find these Armour Eggs. We'll find Marcus too, don't worry," assured Keenan, "It'll be safer if you just go home, or at least stay here and play with Ruka."

"But while you're busy looking for these Armour Eggs, nobody's looking for Marcus! If I come then I can keep an eye out for him and you can keep looking for these Armour Eggs."

"But what if you get hurt," muttered Keenan.

"What if _you_ do!?" asked Kristy, starting to sound angry, "You could've been hurt every time you went in and I haven't stopped you! And since you seem to have forgotten I was with you when Ayaka and Kenji met their partners!"

"Keenan," Ayaka chimed in, "What if it were Lucas or Ruka who were missing? Or Falcomon for that matter, you'd want to find them right?"

Keenan sighed, knowing she was right. "Well… Lucas is the boss, so it's his call," Keenan said at length.

"Sure Kristy, you can come. I was thinking about working the search for Marcus in. I was gonna ask Kenji, since planning is his thing, but this should work too."

"And I'm here," added Biyomon, "I'll always protect Kristy. I've known her since I first hatched… several times."

"Alright then let's- huh," Lucas stopped as he felt Ruka tugging on his shirt, "Yeah Ruka?"

"Can I come?"

"Sorry Ruka, you need a digivice," replied Lucas simply, "Don't worry, we came back yesterday didn't we? You know Keenan can handle anything."

"But I wanna go!"

"You can't go Ruka," Keenan said, "But I can give you something almost as good, just give me a second."

"Almost as good?" Lucas asked to his equally oblivious friends as Keenan dashed up to his room.

A few seconds later Keenan came back down stairs with a toy robot in his hands. It looked old and worn and had clearly seen a lot of love and use. Kristy recognized it, and even Lucas did, it was something Keenan kept like a souvenir and he had once been yelled at by his big brother for playing with it, though Keenan had quickly apologized. Of course Falcomon knew what it was instantly. "Keenan! That's-" the Digimon began.

"Yeah, my old toy robot."

He handed it to Ruka who took it, but looked confused as to how this was anywhere near as good as going to the Digital World. "Ruka, mom and dad would be mad if I told you this, but it seems I have little choice now; I grew up in the Digital World. It's where I first my Falcomon, and I spent ten years of my life there. One of daddy's inventions malfunctioned when I was a baby and brought me there, along with that robot. So, while you can't come to the Digital World, you can at least hang onto that which has spent more time there than here."

"Wow! Thanks big brother!" Ruka cried happily.

"You can also call us using VidChat," Ayaka added, "Actually you should probably tell your parents that, I'm sure they'd be glad to know they can keep in touch with Keenan in the Digital World."

"Okay I'll tell daddy. Mommy's shopping."

The group all thanked their good luck as they moved past Ruka to the computer. "Target Lightning Village! Digi-Port open!" Lucas called, pointing the D-Phone at the computer.

There was the usual glow of both devices, then the rushing through the glowing tunnel, and finally arriving in a pile on the ground. "We really need to work on this part," Kenji muttered as they untangled themselves.

As they got to their feet they saw they were in a residential portion of what looked like a mountain resort town from the Rocky Mountains. All the buildings were modern looking, and with a thicker look that was probably for warmth. There were some log cabins definitely, although they were fancy enough that they could almost barely be called that, and even paved roads, much to the surprise of the humans. Everything was covered in a fine layer of snow, and it was quite cold, as could be expected of the mountains. A mountain peak loomed over the town, and Lucas figured that it was probably their destination.

"Should call it Snow Village," quipped Lucas.

"I didn't know Digimon had roads or cars," Ayaka said.

"We don't have too many paved roads," Hawkmon replied, "Because so many of us can fly or run on our own power. For those who can't there are Digi-Beetles, Trailmon and Digi-Ants; all digital lifeforms in their own right, but not truly Digimon."

"You're such a wealth of information Hawkmon," replied Ayaka, hugging him, "But then why are Trailmon called that?"

"They're the most like Digimon of them."

"Hey! What're you humans doing!?" called an angry, and elderly, voice from nearby.

As the kids looked around they realized they were actually in front of a log-cabin house, on the yard as a matter of fact. It seemed that the Digi-Port had opened in the wall of the house and sent them tumbling onto some Digimon's front yard. The Digimon in question looked like an old, and very hairy, man with a staff topped with a fake yellow paw and wearing a ragged brown kilt or skirt. His face was hidden by his shaggy silver hair, and his body by his beard. He was only about the same height as the Digidestined, but he seemed to resonate a power far beyond his appearance. "That's a Jijimon," said Hawkmon, "They're very elderly, and very powerful Digimon."

"That's right, and I don't like pesky humans runnin' around on my lawn and trampling my tulips!"

"But there's snow everywhere, how can you grow flowers?" asked Lucas.

"I won't know if I have you young upstarts trampling things, so scoot!"

"I'm sorry sir, we were just leaving," Keenan said politely, ushering everyone out onto the sidewalk.

"And don't come back!" yelled the Jijimon, slamming his door behind him.

"Well where are we supposed to start looking for Mihiramon?" asked Lucas, "This mountain's huge!"

"And I'm not sure where to start asking about Marcus," Kristy added.

"Excuse me dears," said a gentle, elderly voice.

They turned to see a female Digimon, similar to Jijimon, who looked somewhat like an old woman. She was short like Jijimon, with her hair in a top knot, and wearing a light green robe with red and white triangle trim at the sleeves, and a very decorative design on the front and a tifaret around her neck. Her mouth was visible, though her eyes weren't, and it appeared to be stitched, while she held a broom in her hand. "Did I hear you correctly? You are searching for Mihiramon?" the Digimon asked.

"Yes, that's right," said Kenji.

"Do you know where he is?" asked Lucas.

"Not personally know, but I know who does. I'm Babamon by the way, Jijimon is my husband. I saw you appear from a portal on your wall, and I'm sorry for my husband, but believe it or not he's actually in a good mood today."

"That's his good mood?" asked Lucas.

"Don't get distracted Lucas," Keenan lectured, "Remember to stay focused on the task at hand."

"Oh, right. Babamon, where's this person who knows where Mihiramon is?"

"At the Shrine of Flame of course. Come children, I will show you."

Seeing it was as good a lead as any they children decided to follow the elderly Digimon, who led them through Lightning Village's many streets. According to her the village hadn't always been like this. As a village close to Azulongmon it had once been much more natural, and back then Babamon and Jijimon had been among the only inhabitants, specifically tasked with maintaining the Shrine of Flame. However hot springs were discovered in the area and they, along with the Shrine and the colourful displays of lightning around the mountain that gave the village its name eventually drew tourists. So the town grew into a tourist trap.

Of course this was a Digimon tourist trap, with amenities for flame Digimon like Meramon, to ice Digimon like Frigimon. There were 'hotels' of giant size for Digimon like Tyrannomon, and designated skyways for Digimon like Unimon. Then of course there were the roads for the Digi-Beetles and Digi-Ants; both of which the humans witnessed as they walked. The former were rather like futuristic buses, though with mechanical eyes instead of headlights, though with a slight organic look, and large wheels that looked more like they were parts of legs than machine parts, which they actually were as Hawkmon pointed out. Digi-Ants were similar, just smaller and more car-like than bus-like.

"It's more like the Metal Empire than the anything here on Server," Falcomon commented.

"Well it was a PrinceMamemon who discovered the springs and started this up," explained Babamon simply, "Anyways, here we are."

They had traveled away from the town into the snowy woods, which wasn't hard as the town wasn't as large as some of its design made it appear. It seemed that Mihiramon was considered the true master of the town, and had allowed PrinceMamemon to stay as long as he allowed nature room to flourish. The Shrine of Flame was a particularly protected location, and looked like a simple Japanese shrine. "Why is it the Shrine of Flame if this is a place close to Azulongmon?" Ayaka asked.

"Look, it's the symbol from my Armour Egg," Lucas said, pointing an emblem like a blazing sun emblazoned above the shrine's doorway.

"That's right, it's the Crest of Courage," said Babamon, "It is here because it was foreseen that the bearer of courage would discover Mihiramon's treasure."

"So the Armour Egg Mihiramon's guarding will go to Lucas?" Kenji asked.

"If he can pass the trials, yes," Babamon replied, "And the first trial begins now."

"Fine, what do I gotta do?" asked Lucas.

Babamon gestured for Lucas, and only Lucas, to follow her, which he did. They climbed the short flight of stairs and entered into the shrine. It wasn't much larger on the inside either, about the size of his living room. It was empty though, except for a ritual fire burning in the center of the room. Babamon guided him to stand in front of it and proceeded to scatter a powder on the flames.

The flames suddenly jumped higher and turned the colour of the Crest, then materialized into a translucent draconic Digimon, or at least part of it. It was its head, which was covered in a white bony-looking helmet with three horns and red stripes, wild yellow hair, red armour and blazing wings. It was a Digimon who exuded strength and power, but also seemed like it would never turn down a fight and always protect others. "So, you're the Digidestined of Courage are you?" said an echoing voice that clearly came from the Digimon in front of him.

"Yeah, apparently," said Lucas, feeling both awed and confused, "I'm Lucas Uchida, and I'm looking for the next Armour Egg. I already have the one for Courage."

"I am AncientGreymon and I am the director of your first trial. To prove yourself worthy of possessing greater power, you must first demonstrate that you are indeed the master of your current level. Will you begin the trial?"

"What am I supposed to do though?" Lucas asked, thoroughly confused.

"Your question is out of confusion, not fear; that is good. However if you are truly courageous than you will go into the unknown freely. So I ask again; will you begin the trial?"

"Sure," replied Lucas with a shrug, "If I can handle being swarmed by Kogamon's clones, I can handle your trial."

"Very well, then let the trial begin," AncientGreymon said.

The translucent form of AncientGreymon surged brightly with flame and then, in a swift and sudden movement, shot straight at Lucas who didn't have time to move or defend himself. It didn't matter anyways since he didn't believe AncientGreymon would injure him. It didn't seem like an attack either, and the moment the flaming form hit him he stood his ground as an amazing feeling of warmth and power surged through his body. He had no idea what it was, but it felt great.

And then as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. There was something different now, though he couldn't his finger on it. That was until he looked down and saw his torso and arms were completely bare, and a looked to be a darker shade than usual. Not only that but they seemed to possess a very fine layer of short fur, so fine that it was unnoticeable unless one looked closely. There were tattoos on his arms that he couldn't get a good look at, and a white tattoo down the left side of his chest. He had brownish-red fingerless gloves on with steel hems, and similarly coloured pants, or maybe breeches, with a solid black belt-like structure around his waist, with two additional loops drooping down diagonally from the elongated hexagonal buckle, only to join up with the main loop at the back.

Looking further he saw a pair of brownish-red anklets below which were feet that were only semi-humanoid, featuring three large toes with brownish-red claws. There were some sort of spaulders covering his shoulders too, though they seemed to loop under his armpits and up around, encasing his entire shoulder and making sliding them off the only way to remove them. And Lucas also couldn't help but feel something connected to his spine. "What's going on?" he asked Babamon, wondering if he should be mad.

"Don't get too mad but… you seem to have become a Digimon," Babamon said quickly.

"I what!?" asked Lucas, definitely feeling his temper rise.

"Here, see for yourself," Babamon said, gesturing to a dusty mirror whose presence Lucas felt was oddly convenient.

When he moved to stand in front of it he saw what was definitely the reflection of a Digimon looking back at him. His body was still largely humanoid, as was his face and head as a whole; however his mouth now showed a single canine sticking out, and his nose was smaller and looked like that of a small dog or cat, and black in colour. Lucas' normally blue eyes were now sharp green, with white tattoos below them like a footballer player, except thinner and with a vertical part sticking downwards. Then there was a spikey mane of firey orange-red hair from which protruded two short, blunt horns, and just below it a pair of long, pointed elfish ears with a gold hoop earring in each. The thing he'd felt attached to his spine turned out to be a long, fluffy tail the same colour as his mane. "What the- AncientGreymon! What's you done to me!?" he called furiously, looking around the shrine.

"Right here," the Digimon replied, appearing in front of him in transparent form.

"What's going on!? What the heck am I? And _why_ am I it to begin with?"

"You're Flamemon, my Rookie form. You're in that form as part of the trial. You must go to the Shrine of Lightning, and you will need me to be with you to confirm that you have complete the trial. This is the only way I can travel. There may be another reason, there may not, you will have to get going if you want to find out, and of course if you wish to acquire the Armour Egg then you'll proceed with the trial."

"Oh alright, fine," Lucas grumbled, "You're supposed to guide us towards the Shrine of Lightning."

"And I will. The trial continues."

Lucas sighed and thanked Babamon before he walked outside the shrine. The reaction from the group ranged from gasps to yelps as they saw him. Except Veemon, who burst out laughing. "Little bro? Is that you?" Keenan asked.

"Oh yeah it's him," said Veemon, still laughing.

"What's so funny!?" asked Lucas angrily.

"Your face! This was sprung on you like a prank, I can tell. And think of it, now I'm a Digimon partnered with a Digimon."

"Yeah, I guess it is pretty funny," chuckled Lucas.

He proceeded to quickly catch them up on what had happened in the shrine, while Veemon finally finished laughing. "Fascinating, I didn't know humans could turn into Digimon," Hawkmon muttered, looking him over. "And AncientGreymon was one of the Ten Legendary Warriors who fought against the Seven Demon Lords, I'm surprised he's the one who manages these trials."

"I like the new look," Ayaka said, "You're kind of like a big humanoid puppy."

"Yeah, there's definitely something cute about it," Kristy added, patting Lucas' mane.

"Stop it," grumbled Lucas, "I'm cool, not cute."

"No, you're definitely cute," Ayaka said, patting his mane as well, "You can leave the cool to our actual partners. Now we should get to looking for that shrine."

"Right. Come on guys, the sooner we finish this the sooner I can go back to being human, not that I don't enjoy being a Digimon," said Lucas, hoping he hadn't offended any of the Digimon present.

"We know what'cha mean Lucas," Armadillomon said.

"And you're right! I want to find out what my other Armour form will be," Veemon added excitedly.

"Alright then, AncientGreymon, point us where we have to go!" Lucas cried, but received no answer.

Instead he got a sort of sudden burst of information in his mind, and he suddenly knew the way they should go; a small trail that began just behind the shrine and almost completely hidden to the naked eye. Lucas ran towards it, with the group following… except for Kristy. "I can't go with you guys any further," she said, "I have to stay here and see if I can find any leads on Marcus."

"I can help guide you around town if you would like," Babamon offered kindly.

"Alright, you go with Babamon and see what you can find," agreed Lucas, "We'll go up the mountain and find my Armour Egg."

Kristy agreed and the two groups set off in different directions. Lucas led the rest of them down the trail, pushing the snowy brush aside as they moved ever closer to the mountain peak. Despite not wearing a shirt, he didn't find he was cold. Maybe it was because of his fur, or maybe because he was a fire Digimon, but either way he wasn't cold. Keenan had made sure to put a jacket on before coming, and the clothes of Kenji and Ayaka seemed to have gained longer sleeves, probably as part of the clothing change function of the D-Phone and the Digital World.

"So Lucas, what's it like being a Digimon?" Keenan asked.

"Fuzzy," replied Lucas with a shrug, "It's weird, but Flamemon's the same size as me, and he's sort of like a human. I mean… yeah I have a tail and a mane and a puppy nose, but I have arms and legs too."

"You're humanoid," Ayaka said, "Means like a human, but not actually a human."

"Yeah, what she said. So I guess it's not that different from normal."

"There was a time when Keenan here would be downright envious of you," Falcomon said.

"It's not as great as he might've thought," said Lucas, "But at least I still have my phone."

After maybe an hour of hiking they left the snowy pine trees of the forest behind and moved into lesser brush before finally moving into plains of boulders as the peak loomed ever closer. Here Lucas found his new body had certain perks; for one he found he was faster than even the enhanced Digidestined bodies, although he found himself dropping onto all fours to run. Secondly he was quite a good climber, once again as long as he utilized all four limbs, switching between a human-like method and an animal-like method of climbing.

However he wasn't one to leave his friends behind, so he would sit on a rock ahead to wait and give encouragement. Lucas found both sitting like a dog or cat, and like a human to be equally comfortable. Veemon was always the first to catch up, as was typical of him, and joined him giving encouragement. Of course their kind of encouragement tended to switch between genuinely encouraging, to calling everyone 'slowpokes'.

Soon the plains of boulders were giving way to inclined cliffsides and slopes of rock. The trail became stronger here though, winding and twisting through the rocks and occasionally sloping up cliffsides. Looking below them they could see the snowy forest stretching out around them, and Lightning Village sitting near the edge of it. "We sure made a lot of progress in a couple hours," Lucas muttered, sitting on all fours like a dog as he waited for his friends to catch up again.

The peak was much less visible now, seeing as they were actually on the mountain. Among the jutting rocks the trail wound around, and seemed to just go towards the top of the mountain. And, while the climbing was a lot of work, Lucas failed to see the trial in it. "AncientGreymon, where's this shrine?" he asked as they walked down a slightly smoother part of the trail.

There was no response and Lucas stamped his foot in frustration. The snow was getting thicker, and the air thinner, and the temperature much lower. It was cold, and none of his friends were dressed for it. "Well can my friends at least have something for warmth?" Lucas asked.

"We're fine Lucas," Ayaka assured.

"Speak for yourself Ayaka," replied Keenan, "I grew up with an ice Digimon and even I'm cold."

Abruptly Lucas' tail burst into flame, which seemed to be AncientGreymon's answer. "Guess this is what you're gonna get," said Lucas, after which his mane also burst into flame.

"Gather 'round Lucas' tail… boy that sounds weird," Veemon said

"I still don't see the 'trial' in this," Lucas said as his friends gathered around him and continued walking, "I don't understand how this demonstrates my courage."

"Well… maybe it's because you're here like this," Kenji said, "You're in a different body, going into a strange mountainside, and you've been climbing this mountain without paying attention to your new body or new skills. You don't even know your own body and you've just been pressing onwards. That seems pretty brave."

"I guess," Lucas said with a shrug.

The path lead them over a rise and below them was a sweeping, snow filled glacial valley. The path wound across the snow, and ultimately to a rocky cliff where they could vaguely see some kind of round indentation. "That indentation, it has some kind of symbol on it," said Keenan, the sharpest eyed of the humans.

Hawkmon and Falcomon, both equally as sharp-eyed, confirmed this. "That must be the shrine!" cried Lucas with joy.

Lucas hurried down the path with his friends following him, only for AncientGreymon to at last appear. "Halt Digidestined! This leg of the trial is Lucas' alone," he said, "Only Veemon can accompany him."

"But they're my friends," protested Lucas, "I can't leave them behind. And if I leave then they lose their campfire."

"You! Hawk-eyed boy!" AncientGreymon commanded.

"Me?" Keenan asked with surprise.

"Yes, you. Go to that cliff over there," the Digimon spirit said, gesturing to a cliff near the trail.

Keenan clambered over to it and stood in front of the blank cliff, looking at it closely. Lucas quickly bounded over to look as well. "I don't get it, what's so great about this cliff?" Lucas asked, sniffing at it in spite of himself.

It was just an instinct related to his new body, using his nose to investigate things as well. To his surprise it yielded results; the smell of coal and wood lingered near the cliff. "You smell something little bro?" Keenan asked.

"Yeah, it smells like fire supplies."

"Find the handprint shaped indent," AncientGreymon commanded.

Keenan scanned the stone with his sharp eyes and quickly noticed the indent in question. It was a slight indent, but definitely hand-shaped and too perfectly shaped to be natural. "Good eye Keenan, I've taught you well," said Falcomon.

"Press it," AncientGreymon said simply.

When Keenan did as he was instructed a rectangular portion of the cliff slid up and revealed a small shelter inside. It was somewhat designed like a hospital waiting room, with simple, but soft chairs and a space in the center for building a fire. As Lucas had smelled, there were stacks of wood and crates of coal, and a small hole was in the ceiling to make a chimney for smoke. "You will wait here until your friend, Lucas, has completed his trial," AncientGreymon said.

"Well at least we'll be warm," said Kenji, walking into the cave.

"Of all the things I know, I'm afraid I don't know how to make a campfire," said Hawkmon, "How about you Ayaka?"

"I know how," said Keenan, "If you'd be willing to light it up for me little bro."

Keenan quickly piled together wood, ignoring the coal for the time being, as everyone else gathered into the cave. On his queue Lucas touched his flaming tail to the wood and watched as a roaring campfire rose up. "Are you satisfied now?" AncientGreymon asked.

"Not really, because I want to be with my friends. But if this will keep them warm and safe while I do my trial then I guess I'm good."

"Very well, then proceed to the Shrine Gate."

"Wait!" called Ayaka as Lucas began to leave.

She ran out to stand in front of him, looking concerned. "What is it?" Lucas asked.

"Could you, um, turn your hair off?" Ayaka asked.

Lucas looked down at his tail and willed the flames to die down, then turned back to Ayaka once they'd returned to being simple hair. Almost instantly she hugged him. "Come back safely okay," she said gently.

"You know I will Ayaka," Lucas said confidently.

"And be a good dog," Kenji added with a chuckle.

"I'm not a dog," replied Lucas bitterly. "Anyways, come on Veemon! To the shrine!"

And with that the two Digimon ran off down the path. They hurried over the snowy glacier, and as they drew nearer the round indentation they saw the symbol that Keenan had seen. It was a slightly tilted yin-yang symbol inside a circle with a wing-like shape on each side, with a curved edge and a straight one, the former pointing up on the left and down on the right.

Then the Digidestined-turned-Digimon and his partner were standing in front of the indentation and looking up at it. "Well done Digidestined of Courage," growled a deep voice.

On a rock there appeared a tall Digimon like a muscular man, except with the head and tail of a lion, and clawed hands and feet; though Lucas noticed that unlike his own Flamemon feet, this Digimon had all five digits on his. The Digimon wore only black leather pants and a belt that held a scabbard, which itself held a sword. One of his ears had an earring, and he had a wild, golden mane and shining blue eyes. He was clearly very powerful, and very fierce, but he seemed to be very brave as well. "Who're you?" asked Lucas, shifting his stance slightly.

"I am Leomon," the Digimon answered, "And now you will fight me."

**End Episode**


End file.
